


For Once in My Life

by casliyn



Category: Veep (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Domestic, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Future Fic, Gen, Teenagers, parenting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 06:14:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 28,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26967307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/casliyn/pseuds/casliyn
Summary: When Dan and Amy's fifteen-year-old son, Ben, is on the verge of becoming an Olympic swimmer, the two are forced to prepare themselves for the trials and tribulations that are due to come thanks to their son's gift.AU.Set in 2038.
Relationships: Amy Brookheimer & Dan Egan, Amy Brookheimer/Dan Egan
Comments: 11
Kudos: 14





	1. For Once in My Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Dan." 
> 
> He turns towards her, raising an eyebrow at her, "Amy?".
> 
> She shakes her head gently, her blonde hair falling in front of her face like a curtain.
> 
> "He's a good kid, Dan." she speaks sternly; he can tell this has been bothering her for a while, "Just because your parents never told you that they were proud of you doesn't mean you have to do the same."
> 
> "If I tell him he's good then he'll start to believe it, then his ego will increase and before we know it, we're dealing with an egotistical asshole and I don't think either of us wants to deal with that.".
> 
> She's silent for a moment and offers an eyebrow raise.
> 
> "I'm serious, Dan." Amy presses a hand to the side of her head, "Be nice to him."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so excited to share the first chapter of this new story with you all! 
> 
> This story has been in my mind for almost a year now and I've been working on formatting and brainstorming for a few months now so the fact that I'm done with the first chapter TRULY blows my mind.
> 
> I would like to thank each and every one of you for being so supportive and loving of me and my writing, over the years, especially now. I hit a huge writing block this year and I am so appreciative of every single of you who stuck with me and my ideas, it means the world to me.
> 
> With the being said, here's the first chapter!
> 
> Make sure to leave a comment and or kudos!

> _For once I can touch what my heart used to dream of_
> 
> _Long before I knew_
> 
> _Oh, someone warm like you_
> 
> _Would make my dreams come true_
> 
> _-'For Once in My Life' by Stevie Wonder_

* * *

**Meet Ben ‘The Bullet’ Egan**

_Sports Illustrated_

_April 25th, 2038_

_“I try my best to not let the attention get to my head.”_ the DC born fifteen-year-old tells me as he laces his shoelaces in preparation for his daily mile run at the track of his high school, _“I feel like the minute I start to believe the hype surrounding me, I’ll lose focus.”._

On paper, Egan already sounds and seems like a professional athlete with a set of Olympic hardware under his belt, but in person, he’s a normal teenage boy. _(Well, as normal as one can be.)_.

With his father being the Emmy-Winning host of HBO’s ‘Late Night with Dan Egan’ and his mother is one of the top political strategists at the now world-famous Brookheimer and Co, Ben says swimming allows him to make his own path without being in the shadow of his parents. _“I feel like it’s important to create your own identity and with swimming, it allows me to be myself.”._

When Ben isn’t breaking state, national and worldwide records and sweeping championships left and right in all 5 of his events, you can find the teenager either at home with his family, school (where he’s an honor roll student with an impressive GPA of 4.3), or teaching swimming to children at his local neighborhood Aquatic Centers. _“He’s a good kid, you know? Not a lot of teenage boys enjoy willingly giving back to their community and the kid does that without being told to do so. It’s very admirable.”_ Ben’s coach, Ellis King, informs us as the Bullet himself goes through his intense and rigorous warm-up session before he begins to practice. After practice, I follow Ben back to his house where I meet the rest of the Brookheimer-Egan ensemble; his father, Dan, and younger sister, Danielle, are preparing Dinner for the Olympic-bound teen while his mother, Amy, and his older sister, Amelia, are located in Mrs. Brookheimer’s office, handling one of Ms. Brookheimer’s clients together as an intense mother-daughter duo.

In the middle of his photo session featuring a prominent character in Ben’s life-his medals, the youngest of the ensemble, Danielle, walks up to me and offers me a glass of Sparkling Strawberry Lemonade (made by her) and she offers me insight on what she thinks about her big brother being an Olympic hopeful. _“It’s cool, I guess. I mean, it’s weird seeing my brother get famous for something he’s always done. For as long as I can remember he’s always been swimming so to see him get paid for it and become a celebrity from it is super weird.”._

As the photographer, Yu Tsai, instructs Egan to 'act normal' as he takes several shots of him in his bedroom. I take the time to ask him about any goals he wishes to accomplish soon with the Olympic Trials on the horizon.

 _"I wanna get my Driver's License first."_ he releases an awkward laugh, " _..it's not cool to have to wait on your older sister to give you a ride to wherever you need to go."_

Olympics first or license first?

 _"That's rough."_ he chuckles timidly, his brow furrowing low on his forehead as he ponders the question for a brief moment, _"I'll say license because I don't want to jinx my chance of making it to the Olympics and seem like a prick in this interview."._

Don't worry Egan, I'd say you're far from it.

* * *

It’s the end of April which means that it’s an unnecessarily hot morning in DC.

Outside of the house, the large olive tree sits still as the air remains stiff due to the heat the air holds while the birds chirp in their usual morning dialogue with one another.

The beeping sound of the coffee machine flow into Amy’s ears and it forces her to blindly reach out for the mug and the steaming hot mug as she tried to continue reading the latest email from her assistant regarding some foolish meeting she cannot remember approving of.

 _“Amy.”_ Dan turns around from his position at the stove.

“What?” she mumbles without looking up under her breath, squinting her eyes at the large screen in front of her, trying to make out the words.

Either the words were getting smaller or her screen was getting bigger.

“One more squint and you’re going to get coffee all over your precious phone.” he reaches out and takes the steaming pot of black coffee from Amy’s right hand and pours the coffee into her mug instantly.

“I was just reading, dumbass,” she mutters under her breath, gently elbowing him away from her so he’s back to facing the stove, “Besides, can you even read this?” she holds the phone up to him.

“Yeah, it says _‘Go to the Doctor and stop acting like a wimp already’_.” he points at the screen and turns around to steal a piece of bacon from the plate nearest him.

And she snorts at that, stealing the mug back from him.

“Get off your high horse, you’re the one who had a panic attack about _‘losing your youth’_ because you had to man up and get some glasses.” Amy reminds him, placing the pitcher back on the platform and giving him a snark look.

“Yeah, yeah.” Dan rolls his eyes, turning to the two young girls who sit at the kitchen counter, “Where’s your brother?”

“Upstairs.” Danielle, their brunette 12-year-old, responds without looking up from her plate, “Can I have some more bacon?”

“Slow down, kid.” Dan pours himself a cup of coffee, “Ben still needs to eat.”

“You’ve already eaten the Mom and Dad, you wanna go after their kids too while you’re at it?” Amelia, their chestnut brunette, 17-year-old, responds without looking up from her phone.

"Shut up, Amelia," Danielle responds, her face melting into a timid pout and taking an angry bite of her bacon.

"Amelia, don't say that." Amy chimes in, taking a sip of the coffee and making a disgusted face instantly.

"Yeah, Mill, leave your sister alone." Dan chimes in for extra effect, noticing Amy's look of disapproval and handing her the Hazelnut coffee creamer and sugar, _"Ben! Breakfast!_ " he shouts towards the stairs.

 _"One second!"_ Ben's voice travels down the stairs.

"Well, I'm leaving in five minutes." Amelia stands from her seat and makes her way to the sink, running her plate under the hot water, "If he's not ready by then one of you guys needs to take him on your way to work." 

He pauses in place along with Amy and they both look up to exchange a knowing look.

"No, if he's not ready then you'll wait." Amy reminds her, stirring the creamer into her mug.

Before Amelia can open her mouth to respond, a surge of footsteps race down the staircase, stomping its way through the foyer and directly into the kitchen, revealing a disgruntled Ben who has his hair in disarray with his clothes slightly ruffled and wrinkled. 

_"Morning."_ Ben places a small kiss on Amy's cheek and grabbing a few pieces of bacon from the skillet.

God, doesn't this kid know how to brush his hair?

 _"Ben_ , hair." he points at his head, "You look like a wet dog." 

The teenage boy shrugs and grabs his protein shake from the fridge, adjusting his backpack strap as he struggles to open the bottle.

"I did my laps this morning, don't worry, my hair will be dry by the time I get to school." he offers, "Meet ya in the car." he points at Amelia and makes his way across the living room towards the garage door.

And they all sit in silence, staring at the garage door that's now slammed shut in awe of just how fucking energetic Ben is this morning.

"Is Ben on drugs?" Danielle blinks in confusion, turning to her parents with wide-eyes, "Seriously, he has more energy than me and that's saying a lot."

"Don't make jokes about that stuff, Danielle." Amy scolds her youngest child dryly without looking up from her phone, "Your brother isn't on drugs."

"I'm pretty sure if Ben got a whiff of weed he'd go into a seizure," Amelia smirks to herself, leaning back in her seat.

While yes, what Amelia is saying is very, very wrong, it doesn't help the fact that it's kinda fucking funny and he can't hold back his laughter. 

And this earns a shoulder hit from Amy because she doesn't find the joking about Ben doing anything remotely bad very, painfully, unfunny.

"That's not funny," Amy warns the kids but more so him, this time giving him a stern look in the eye with a tone indicating that she _really,_ truly doesn't find any jokes of her innocent baby boy doing anything remotely malicious or dangerous funny.

Releasing a mocking scoff, Amelia snorts in disbelief as she places her left foot on the chair and begins to tie her shoelaces, "Dad finds it funny.".

"Your father isn't known for his humor." Amy retorts, taking a sip of her coffee.

" _Hey."_ he turns around, slightly offended, "I'm funny."

"I think you're funny, Dad," Danielle speaks up, in between her mouthfuls of bacon.

"Thank you, Honey." he steals a piece of bacon from Amy's plate, "That's why you're my favorite." 

"Whatever. I'll see you guys, later." Amelia stands to her feet and removes her backpack from the back of the black leather seat, "Come on, Danielle."

After Danielle finishes her last bite of bacon, she slides off the seat and runs a hand through her sandy brown hair, "Where's my field trip form?" 

"You said you needed it tomorrow." Amy continues to scroll through her phone.

" _Today_ is tomorrow. That's what I meant." Danielle explains herself, "I need it today or else I can't go."

Ah, the joys of having children who have no simple consideration for the fact that both of their parents are _very_ busy and important people and cannot be bothered with such simple and idiotic things as field trip forms. 

Don't get him wrong, this really only applies to Ben and Danielle, at an early age Amelia figured it would be better for her to sign his or Amy's signature whenever she forgot to mention a form she needed to be signed for school. 

But don't get him wrong, he isn't proud of it by any means, it just makes the most sense in situations when it's literally the last minute and they had no idea about the form. 

"When is this field trip?" he chimes in as Amy takes off her office down the hall.

Danielle nervously plays with her hands.

 _"_ Today," she states like this information has been previously disclosed and both he and Amy are in the wrong for not treating this field trip as the most important thing in the world. 

He groans and pushes a hand through his hair, trying to hold back on scolding his kid this early. It's only 7 in the morning and he isn't in the mood to scold any of his children right about now.

"Why didn't you say anything before today?" he speaks slowly, holding back on his frustration.

"I _did_ tell you guys. I told you _and_ mom last week, _reminded_ Mom after she picked me up from dance last week when I _gave_ her the form, told _you_ while we were watching that old Yankees game two days ago, then reminded Mom last night while she was in her office." Danielle counts off her fingers with a slight tone of frustration.

When she explains it like that...it vaguely sounds familiar but it's not like he can let her know that.

He's learned his lesson after he told Amelia she was right about something ages ago and she _still_ mentions it to this day.

A loud and boisterous car horn sounds from the garage and it brings him back to reality.

He groans and fishes his hand into his sweatpants and fishes out his wallet, pulling out a $20 bill and handing it to Danielle, "Next time just bring the form to me and I'll sign it." 

Danielle frowns at the bill and gives him a knowing look.

"What if I want a souvenir? This'll only get me lunch." the young girl's shoulders slump.

"Go to the clearance section." he turns away and takes a sip of his protein shake, "Besides, where are you even going?"

"The Spy Museum," she responds as she swings open the cabinet and pulls out a few oatmeal raisin granola bars, submerging them into her green backpack.

"You've been there before." he groans as he hands her another $20 bill, "Why didn't you decide to stay at school?"

"A field-trip is a vacation away from school." she speaks like it's obvious, "Besides, there's no way I'm willingly staying at school in Ms. McCoy's class all day."

With all the money he and Amy have funneled into that Academy this year alone? This field trip better be a fucking Baz Luhrmann spectacle waiting to happen.

Emerging from her office, Amy holds the form out, waving it to get Danielle's attention as the horn sounds from the garage yet again.

"Next time _say_ something." Amy narrows her eyes at Danielle as she takes the paper from her Mom's grasp, "Your sister is about to give me a migraine from all that honking."

Turning around to grab the paper and stretching her arm to grab the last piece of bacon from Dan's plate, she sprints across the living room, offers a small goodbye, and slams the garage door shut behind her. 

Amy groans and breezes past Dan, rolling her eyes and giving him a nudge in his arm.

"You owe me bacon." she pouts, making her way back to her coffee mug and taking a sip.

Already a step ahead of her, he turns towards the fridge and pulls out the pack of bacon after he flips the oven back on.

" _And_ eggs." she's demanding but her voice is eerily calm, he sneaks a look and watches as she scrolls through her phone with one hand and flips through the newspaper in the other hand.

"Your lack of confidence in me not knowing anything about you and your eating patterns is concerning." he extends his hand out to grab the salt from the opened cabinet.

Ignoring him, Amy breezes past him and leans against the middle counter; resting her elbows on the white granite countertop.

Since Amelia got her license two years ago, they fell into the routine of letting her take everyone to school while they sat back and got ready for work.

"Ben did well in his interview," she speaks up as he flips the bacon in the skillet.

"Eh, he's getting better." he massages his shoulder, taking a free moment to give it a tight squeeze to rid it of the pain from working out earlier.

She gives him a look that indicates she's clearly aggravated with his response.

 _"What?"_ he raises an eyebrow at her.

"It was a nice interview." she corrects him with a sharp tongue.

"I know, I said that." he nods.

"Then just say that." she rolls her eyes, "Why does it always have to be something extra with you?"

God, not _this_ conversation.

He knows where it's heading and he already knows what it's all about. 

For whatever inherent reason, Amy has this feeling that Dan is 'too tough' on Ben and never gives him his props for being a great athlete and while it's partly true, it's not _completely_ true. 

Yes, he acknowledges that Ben is a great athlete with an impressive god-given talent to swim like a bat out of hell but that doesn't mean he can shower him with that 24/7. 

The last thing he wanted to deal with was some egotistical 15-year-old who suddenly acts like he knows it all because he has a few interviews and gold medals under his belt.

"If I tell him that he's the best then he'll start to _believe_ he's the best." he flips the eggs without looking, "I mean you don't want to deal with a cocky kid just as much as I do."

"I'm not saying you need to praise him all the time, it would be nice to give him _some_ credit," Amy suggests, her voice far away from its usual snarky tone.

He turns the heat up on the stove, chuckling to himself.

"Credit for what?" he focuses on finishing up the bacon.

He hears Amy release an irritated huff and it's followed by the sound of her hand dropping on the counter.

_"Dan."_

He turns towards her, raising an eyebrow at her, " _Amy?"._

She shakes her head gently, her blonde hair falling in front of her face like a curtain.

"He's a good kid, Dan." she speaks sternly; he can tell this has been bothering her for a while, "Just because your parents never told you that they were proud of you doesn't mean you have to do the same."

"If I tell him he's good _then_ he'll start to believe it, _then_ his ego will increase and before we know it, we're dealing with an egotistical asshole and I don't think either of us wants to deal with that.".

She's silent for a moment and offers an eyebrow raise.

"I'm serious, Dan." Amy presses a hand to the side of her head, "Be nice to him."

He supposes that a majority of this conversation is rooted in Amy's undeniable and clear adoration for Ben. He's not saying that she loves Ben more than Amelia and Danielle but, he _is_ saying that if there was a fire in their house, Ben would be the first thing she would grab (yes, even before her cellphone).

Part of him wants to drag this out for as long as can just to fuck around with her but in this case, he doesn't need Amy breathing down his neck about this so, he figures it'll just be best to dutifully agree and just move on.

Fucking marriage.

"Fine. I'll talk to him today." he slides the finished pieces of bacon on the plate, turning around to finish off the eggs.

Cocking her head to the side, Amy drums her fingertips on the counter and looks him up and down with a knowing look.

"I'm serious, Dan." 

"I am too." he slides the eggs on the plate and finishes them off with a pinch of parsley, "I said I'd talk to him."

"Well, do it soon." she orders him as he slides the plate in front of her, "You know he has that big meet coming up."

"Eh, he'll be fine." he insists with a dismissive hand wave, turning around to shut off the stove and begin to dump the dirty pans into the white sink, "Besides, that means he won't have time to do that stupid interview Chung was practically sucking my dick for." 

"He wouldn't be able to do it anyway," Amy states matter-of-factly.

Ever since Ben's success as a swimmer was getting recognition, people all over Washington DC were quite literally desperate to get an interview with the future phenomenon that is Ben Egan and it both drives Dan insane and makes him cackle in glee. 

"What interview?" Amy digs into her eggs.

"Chung wants to do an interview with Ben." Dan informs her, "He said so in an interview with 'The Atlantic' yesterday." 

"Well, I can't see why he'd do it." Amy responds, "He's not sixteen yet." 

Before he opens his mouth to question what it is Amy's talking about, the recognition hits him like a wave and he keeps his mouth silent.

A few years ago, After Ben's coach had informed both him and Amy that Ben seemed to have born with some immaculate gift of athleticism and swimming, Amy was _very_ stern on making sure that Ben (or really any of the kids), weren't made into public figures due to any talents they may have and that they don't do any public interviews until they hit at least sixteen.

And he always kept that in his back pocket because the day Ben turns sixteen, Dan will be the first person to have him on his show.

Not for any beautiful parental reason by any means, but really to remind everyone that Ben is _his_ son and a lot of his success can be traced back to both him (and Amy too). It's not to say that Dan needs his ego stroked; his night-time slot on HBO and steady millions of live viewers every night does that easy for him.

"Yeah." he nods along; knowing that it'll be much easier to just let Amy think that he's not planning anything to avoid a potential hissy fit from her.

He turns on the television planted into the wall over the teal sideboard table and leans against the cabinet, taking a glance at Amy as she eats.

"Wanna come to the studio for lunch today?" he offers.

"Busy today." she wastes no time.

He guffaws at her as his forehead creases.

"You said that yesterday." he wiggles his eyebrows.

Amy gives a half shrug and continues to eat without a care in the world.

"I have a meeting with Candi Carusso." Amy gives Dan a knowing look, "Apparently she's tied herself to that Congresswoman in Michigan."

"The black one?" Dan looks up from the commercial on the television that features abused dogs.

Finishing her plate, Amy nods and makes her way to the sink to rinse off the white plate.

"Yeah, that one." 

His eyebrows perk up immediately; the thought of an exclusive interview with a potential woman of color who could potentially be the next President of the United States seems like a very attractive opportunity to pursue and something that the network would potentially suck his dick for.

Nothing more liberal than an educated woman of color in politics.

"Well if she's in need of an interview, I'm kinda in that department." he gives a knowing smile to Amy, throwing in a wink for a small measure which causes Amy to gag playfully and roll her eyes dramatically.

"I'm more of a Colbert fan myself." she drops the dish in the dishwasher and cocks her head to the side, giving a teasing grin that he sees as a challenge, turning his body towards her so she's only an arm's length away from him.

"I doubt that old hack can wake you up like I can." he reaches out for her as she shrugs his arm away, giving him a disgusted look and groan.

"You're repulsive." she sighs, crinkling her nose at him.

She turns around and makes her way towards the staircase, shaking out her blonde curls as she tilts her head back and approaches the staircase.

He turns back to the mess the kids left on the marble counter and something dawns on him at that moment.

"Ames?" he calls out.

She's already at the top of the staircase and looks over the balcony with an expectant look on her face.

"You should wear that pantsuit you wore to the luncheon in Manhattan a few months ago." he points his thumb behind him, "The one with the striped trench, white v-neck, and black slacks. Your tits look nice in them." 

She waves a dismissive hand and flips him the finger.

"Fuck off, Dan." she throws over her shoulder as she pads her way down the hallway, leaving him to chuckle to himself and silently pray that she actually listens to him and goes with his idea.

It's not like he doubts her abilities to dress, it's gotten exponentially better after Danielle was a few years old and she had shed some of the baby weight off, but if Amy _has_ to see Candi...he wants her to represent herself well.

Almost a few minutes later, when he's making his way towards the bedroom to get ready for the day and bid Amy goodbye, he can't help but smile when she breezes past him wearing the same exact outfit that she finished off with a gold necklace he got her for Christmas a few years ago and a pair of black Valentino pumps.

"Nice outfit," he calls after her once she gets to the garage door.

"Shut up, Dan." she throws open the door and goes on about to embark on her day.

* * *

Before Ben's guidance counselor calls him down for his already pre-scheduled End-of-the-year meeting, he takes a detour during brunch break to head down there himself and say what's been on his mind lately.

"Hey, Ben! What can I help you with?" Mrs. Union smiles brightly the minute he pops his head into the office after she's given him permission to enter.

He enters and combs a hand through his hair with one hand and uses the other to drop his backpack near the seat he sinks himself into almost immediately.

"I was wondering if I could meet you before the whole EOTY meeting, I've kinda been thinking a lot about some things and I was wondering if you could help me with them." 

Mrs. Union nods at that and turns her body so she's facing him and gives him a bright smile.

"Of courses" she offers, "By the way, my husband and I read your interview in Sports Illustrated this morning and it was phenomenal. I'm so proud of how well-spoken you've become in the past few years."

He lets out a nervous laugh and awkwardly plays with his fingers in his lap.

"Thanks, I haven't really read it yet. I'm nervous to check it out," he admits dolefully.

Mrs. Union's office is the epitome of a warm hug on a cold, shivering day.

The office sits on the lowest floor of the Upper School of the Sidwell Campus and the walls are painted in a soft lilac color and the entire room has a deep scent of Snickerdoodle Cookies and Lavender. 

She wasn't like one of those Guidance Counselors who just encouraged you to go to the most expensive and lucrative schools in the country (even though that's mainly what she gets paid to do), she's the type to actually _listen_ to what her students are going through and offer them options that cater towards their needs.

"Well, you should. It was a great interview" she offers with a warm smile, the light from the window hitting her dark-skin beautifully, "So, what did you want to talk about?"

He takes a deep breath and nervously tugs on the neon wristband he got from Danielle for Christmas last year.

He counts to three silently in his head.

"I don't want to go to college," he admits out loud for the first time.

The room falls silent as Mrs.Union's perfectly arched eyebrows hike up on her forehead as her jaw slightly drops.

He can tell she's genuinely taken aback by his decision so he figures it might be best to fully explain himself before she gives him her thoughts.

Truth be told, he's been thinking about this for the past few weeks and he hasn't really been able to admit this to anyone out loud because he has an idea of what the general reaction would be. 

After he won FINA last year and got that check for $20,000 he just felt so...content. Don't get him wrong, he's a great student and enjoys school (mainly for the social aspects) but he doesn't know how he feels going to some four-year university where they'll work him like a dog (without pay!) just to help keep their sports program notable.

If he's going to be working harder than he is now at more of a consistent rate, he figures it'll be best to just go professional right after high school and work on becoming the athlete he knows he can be and get paid while doing so.

So he tells Mrs. Union all of that.

How he plans to qualify for the Olympic trials this year, make it to the Olympics, go to the Olympics, finish High School the following year, skip College, and move to a big-time city (possibly California) to train 24/7 with a Coach and start his life out there.

By the time he's finished, Mrs. Union looks even more surprised than she did a few minutes ago when he actually dropped the bombshell and he blows his cheeks out in exhaustion, giving her a small smile.

"That's all I have for now." he finishes, "What do you think Mrs. U?"

Mrs. Union blinks in disbelief and rubs her temples back to reality.

"Ben, I.....I _have_ to say that I wasn't expecting this," she admits, sliding on her clear glasses and frantically typing on her computer, "I mean even though you aren't legally eligible to be recruited by schools at this _very_ moment, you're still one of the most sought after student-athletes in the country." her voice is calm and smooth.

"I know, I know." he gives a humiliating sigh, "I just figured I said something now before all of these recruiting visits happen."

Mrs. Union swallows at that and gives an understanding nod.

"I appreciate that but let's go back a few steps." she points a thumb behind her, "You don't want to pursue _any_ education after high school? Trade School? Take a gap year? Anything?"

"I just think it's a waste of time." he admits, "I mean, why waste my time and money swimming for college full-time and going to class part-time when I could just swim 24/7?".

"I don't doubt that you have the talent and drive to swim 24/7." Mrs. Union consoles him warmly, "But, I am worried about how your parents might react to this. Have you spoken with them regarding this?"

Absolutely not.

If his parents were to ever catch wind of his plans he's about ninety percent sure they'd kill him on sight without giving him an opportunity to explain himself.

"It hasn't really come up, yet." his feet nervously tap on the soft carpeting of the room.

"May I ask why?" Mrs. Union cocks her head to the side and gives a sympathetic look.

Because they're fucking insane.

"I don't think they'd understand." he gives a half-shrug, "I figured if I worked out the plan a bit more than it would help with the whole situation."

"That's a good point." she consoles him, "Most parents are typically more open and understanding of ideas that are usually more formulated than scattered; it shows commitment."

"And I don't want to tell them now." he adds in for extra measure, "I mean I _can_ but, I'd prefer to tell them once the trials get closer."

"Ben." Mrs. Union leans forward and puts her hands on her desk. her diamond ring catching the light spilling into the room, "This is a very sudden decision. I mean two weeks ago we were finalizing your courses for Junior year that'll help make you a competitive candidate during application season. Did anything happen since then?".

It was his mentor, Elijah Woolstep.

He met Elijah last year at FINA after he beat him and shocked everyone (including him), Elijah was the favorite to win all of his events because he was ranked and hailed as one of the fastest swimmers in the country and had a full-ride scholarship at Princeton under his belt.

Ben figured he'd be pissed at him for stealing his spotlight away from him and kick his ass in the parking lot but, he found himself surprised when Elijah shook his hand and showered him with praises for the rest of the evening.

A few weeks ago when Elijah was visiting his girlfriend at Howard, they had met on the weekend for a quick workout and Elijah had informed him that he dropped out of school and would go straight into a professional career.

 _"Why swim for anyone else but myself?"_ he unclenched his fists before he went for the steel grey 100-pound dumbbell and began to begin his fifth set of arm curls.

And that really resonated with him.

Why swim for anyone but himself?

Mrs. Union is cool enough so, he tells her about that interaction and he can tell from her reaction that she actually agrees with what Elijah said and sees the point that Ben is trying to make. 

"That's a... _good_ point, Ben." she brushes her palms together and gives a small sigh, " _But,_ as fantastic and amazing as your plan is, I really want you to think about this. Your parents have invested a _lot_ into your education and they'll have every right to question you on this decision, the least you can do is come up with a solid plan and present it to them."

The bell for brunch rings through the walls and he sees the array of teenagers leaving the cafeteria and making their way to their designated classes, chatting and laughing amongst themselves.

"Again Ben, it's a good idea but I really want you to think this out, okay?" Mrs. Union makes a steeple of her fingers on her cherry wood desk.

He nods and stands to his feet, throwing his backpack over his shoulder.

"Thanks, Mrs. U. I'll let you know when I think of anything else." he gives her a slight smile.

"Anytime, Ben." she tilts her head up at him, "I'll call you back in about two weeks to check in on you." 

"Sounds like a plan." he waves as he exits the office and makes his way down the hallway filled with the noises of overworked counselors on the phone with overworked parents demanding the best futures for their children.

Luckily his class isn't too far away so it isn't that much of a walk but the minute he passes the grand staircase, he sees Amelia with her group of friends and he decides to tease her because well, it's his job.

"Hey Mill, do Mom and Dad know about your pierced belly-button?" he turns around and points at the diamond ring attached to her exposed naval.

Her jewel-like eyes roll like a hamster wheel at him and she flips him off.

"Do Mom and Dad know that you're failing French and that you're still in the closet?" she raises her manicured eyebrow at him and it causes her friends to laugh as they lounge against the walls of the staircase.

He's not in the closet. This is something that Amelia just says whenever he has her stumped and she can't think of anything to come back with. 

It's also partly because she's convinced that his friendship with Elijah is just ingrained in some weird obsession he has with him and that's absolutely _not_ true.

"The only thing in the closet was your ex-boyfriend, Mill," he adds his middle finger for extra measure, earning a smirk and hark of laughter from her friend group and it causes a look of annoyance on Amelia's face, causing him to give her a warm smile.

 _"Love you, Mill!_ " he pronounces dramatically and throws in kissy-faces for the hell of it.

"Drop dead, dumbass." she flips him off the minute he gets to the door for his French class.

* * *

"Are you calling for an afternoon delight?" Dan answers the phone the minute he sees Amy's name pop up on his cell.

"You're on _speaker,_ Dan." he can see Amy rolling her eyes in her turquoise office chair as she types furiously on her clear Mac Monitor.

"You didn't answer my question." he teases her as he leans back in his office seat, looking at the panoramic window that's on the opposing side of the room and gives a perfect view of mid-day DC and the White House on the north side of the window.

The memory of fucking Amy in front of the window late at night to christen the office might be one of his top memories of this place.

He smirks to himself as the memory lingers in his mind and he can practically hear her moans in his free ear as Amy blabbers on the phone in the other.

 _"Dan!"_ her shrill voice brings her back to life.

Shit, he didn't hear her.

"Wait, say that again?" he sits up in his seat slightly.

"The Olympic Trials is the same day as Amelia's graduation." she informs him, "They just moved the dates up." 

Well, that's...not fucking good.

"Where'd you hear that from?" his head cocks in confusion as he leans back and knocks on the wall behind him where his assistant's office is located demandingly. 

"Joan just told me." her voice is annoyed, "Jesus, do you need to get your fucking hearing checked? I said this already."

"Bad reception." he removes his feet from the desk and turns on his computer the minute his assistant, Trina, shuffles into the room, her bleary eyes looking at him in confusion when she enters the room.

"No Dan, you haven't gotten any negative tweets in the last ten minutes." she stands in front of his desk.

 _"Hahaha_ very funny." he offers her dryly, "Write this down." 

She pulls out her tablet and stylus, taking a seat on the loveseat sequestered to the right side of the room as he puts his phone on speaker and drops the phone on his desk.

"So everything got pushed up?" he raises an eyebrow at the phone.

" _Everything."_ Amy groans, "I mean, the fucker's even have one of Ben's events scheduled the minute Amelia will be doing her speech thing.".

Shit.

This puts a screw in their plans because they had planned so much around celebrating Amelia's graduation that they're practically booked from the Thursday Evening she graduates to the Sunday Afternoon she has her party. He's already invested too much money in party planners, chefs, and all that other high-end party shit for it to just be canceled so easily. 

Besides, he highly doubts that Amelia would give up a week's work of celebration of her and her achievements so easily to celebrate anyone besides herself, _especially_ her little brother.

He looks over at Trina who nods and whispers, " _This would make great monologue material."_

And because he's a man of multitasking he gives her a thumbs up and tells her to take a note of it through whisper as Amy speaks on the phone.

"Well is the location still the same?" 

"That's why they had to change it." he hears papers shuffling in the background, "It's in Texas."

" _Texas?"_ his voice is high in confusion, "What the fuck happened to New Jersey?" 

"How many times do I have to tell you that I _just_ found this out?" Amy's voice is aggravated now.

He draws in a long breath and puts his elbow on the sleek glass desk, putting a hand over his face and sighing to himself.

"So what are we going to do?" Dan speaks up, "I mean, we can't cancel her graduation even though my credit card would greatly appreciate it." 

"And we can't really tell Ben that he can't do the trials." Amy cuts to the chase, "He's been training for this for almost three years now."

He scratches behind his ear and groans.

"How long even are the trials?" How many days?" he slides on his glasses and snaps at Trina, letting her know to circle this information.

There's a small conversation between Amy and Joan on the other end of the line.

"May 16th through May 23rd, Mill graduates on the 20th." Amy flips through some papers and he hears her fingers furiously typing on her keyboard.

Trina scribbles that on her tablet and nods along with Amy as she rattles off other information.

"Alright." he groans from his hands, pulling away so his face isn't buried in his hands, "We need to really sit down and figure this out because something's going to have to change because all of this is gonna happen next month." 

Amy groans and says something to Joan.

"Give that one note about them moving the date of the trials to the same day as Mill's graduation idea to the writers and see what they come up with. It has potential," he mentions to Trina after he quickly puts Amy on mute for a brief second.

Trina nods at that and shuffles out of the room and down the hallway back to her office.

He unmutes Amy and leans back in his seat, putting his feet on his desk.

"Ames? I can hear your worrying from here." he smirks to himself, "It'll all work out." 

"Dan? Stop telling me what to do." she retorts with an attitude high in her voice.

"How about... _we_ go for dinner tonight, before the show, and we talk about this." he strokes his chin, thinking of how to get Amy along for a moment or two without any of the kids near them.

Don't get him wrong, his kids are cool but they really do cramp his style and ruin the mood whenever they're around.

"Well that wasn't subtle at all." she teases him with a slight grin in her voice, "And I can't, I already told the kids that were having MOD for dinner tonight. Amelia is going to pick it up after dance." 

Damn.

 _"Damn,"_ he mutters disappointedly, "Are you still wearing that pantsuit with the v-neck?" 

"Goodbye, Dan." she gives an irritated laugh.

He looks over at his private bathroom door, which is where he fucked Amy over the sink after the network gave him a raise. 

_"Are you?"_ he tries again.

And she hangs up.

That's all he needs to know.

* * *

“Welcome to MOD Pizza, what can I get started for you?” the girl smiles up at Amelia and Ben as Danielle looks up at the menu aimlessly, studying it with an interested gaze.

“We’re here to pick up an order under the name ‘Egan’.” Amelia shows her phone to the dark-haired teenager who leans forward to give the phone a good look and nods after a few minutes of reading the phone.

“Order 294, the three pizzas and one salad.” the girl shakes her head and turns to the cashier stand, pressing the screen a few times and looking back up at the group, “One Maddy Pizza, One Customized Pizza, One Caspain and one Ceasar Kale salad right?”

Out of the corner of Amelia’s eyes, she can see Ben’s eyes resting on the girl comfortably, not blinking for one minute. 

Unfortunately for him, it’s so obvious the girl can feel his uncomfortable stares because she keeps looking over at him in confusion, her thick brows furrowing low on her forehead. 

“Can I help you with anything else?” she asks the group but really directing her question to Ben who stares become increasingly intense.

Ben practically stumbles over himself; blinking back to reality and tries to pull off a movement of him combing a hand through his hard but it's an awkward mess that causes Amelia to practically snort.

“That’ll be all-” Amelia holds out a credit card but is suddenly interrupted by Ben who leans forward.

“How _uh...good_ are your milkshakes?” the words stumble out of Ben’s mouth, earning a hark of laughter from both of his sisters immediately. 

The poor girl is actually taken aback by the simple question that she takes a deep breath and turns around to look at the menu board. 

“I don’t really have milkshakes like that but they’re pretty popular around here.” she offers.

Ben nods his head with a soft blush and stammers as he points up at the menu.

 _“I’ll.._.I’ll have a Strawberry Milkshake then.” he offers a small smile to the girl who just nods slowly.

“Anything else?” she looks up at the group.

“Can I have a milkshake too? Chocolate, please.” Danielle surges forward, shoving herself in between her older siblings, demanding attention from the now overwhelmed teenage girl.

The girl smiles at Danielle and taps at the screen instantly, “Sure. Anything else?”

Amelia smiles and slides her father’s Am-Ex back into her wallet, “I’ll have a Large Vanilla Milkshake with Extra Oreo Crumbles and a side of Cinnamon Strips with Strawberry Glaze.” 

“The Oreo Crumbles are reserved for the actual Oreo Milkshake. Would you like that instead?” the girl offers, earning an eye roll from Amelia.

“I’ll just have what I said I wanted.” Amelia pulls out her phone from her black leggings and leans against the counter unenthusiastically.

The girl unhinges her jaw at that, rolling her eyes and pressing on the screen defeatedly.

“ _That_ was rude,” Danielle mumbles under her breath, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear and dusting off her ruby red dance team sweater.

“That’ll be $45.76. Will that be cash or card?” the girl chimes in with a look of discomfort on her face now.

 _“Card._ ” Ben declares, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out his wallet, dropping his debit card on the counter, “And sorry about my sister.”

“Shut the fuck up, Ben.” Amelia pushes her younger brother on the shoulder, “I’m waiting in the car.”.

Without wasting a minute, Amelia struts head held high out of the restaurant and right to her car, throwing open the driver’s door of her pearl white BMW X5 M Sport and sliding in.

“Sorry about our sister, she’s a bitch.” Danielle steps forward as the young woman takes the card out of the machine and hands it to Ben.

The girl smiles at that and shakes her head.

“She’s fine. She probably had a rough day or whatever.” the girl insists, fixing her visor so the MOD label is more visible and it completely covers her forehead.

“I can assure you she didn’t.” Ben rolls his eyes, “There’s nothing rough about driving around in a BMW all day and going to some preppy DC private school.” 

“Well, your ‘ _preppy’_ private school has a fundraiser for its for graduating seniors so I applied the discount to your total.” the girl offers to Ben with a small smile, “The proceeds go towards their Senior Trip apparently.”

Ben knew all about the Senior Trip, it’s all Amelia talked about since she got into High School and was accepted into the leadership class and was able to have a say in what it is they did for their trip.

“You have nice eyebrows.” Danielle chimes in, reminding Ben that he isn’t alone with this mysterious yet very beautiful girl.

“Thank you.” she turns around and grabs the boxes of food from her older coworker and turns to place the items in a large plastic bag.

They chat for a few more moments about little things; the weather to the new bakery opening down the street near the YMCA center (where Ben spends a majority of his afternoons after school).

“Have a nice day.” the girl offers to Ben and Danielle immediately turns away, making her way to the car.

“You too. Have a nice day…. _Ekaylah?”_ Ben leans forward and reads the name on the girl’s nametag, ignoring the noise of the evening chatter between the customers who fill the large restaurant.

The girl pauses for a second and looks down at her name tag.

“Yeah...that’s me.” she smiles, “Ben right?” 

“Yeah.” Ben feels his heart begin to race slightly, “Nice meeting you, Ekaylah.” 

“You too, Ben.” she smiles then turns to the next customer who waits impatiently.

And on the car ride home, he can’t help but say her name over and over again.

Ekaylah.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Make sure to leave a comment and or kudos! It's not only heavily encouraging but greatly appreciated!


	2. Make the Most

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He knows the name Zoe Burke well enough to know that nothing pleasant or calm follows her and he’s not in the mood to see her ever again whatsoever. 
> 
> Don’t get him wrong, the small stint they had before he and Amy got back together was somewhat entertaining and fun but that doesn’t mean he wants to relieve any of that whatsoever. 
> 
> He has Amy now and that’s really all he wants at this point. 
> 
> (He’s come to that point after careful consideration, of course).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to every single of you who have supported this story and me so far! 
> 
> The positive feedback and comments have helped me so much during this difficult time of Quarantine and as I said earlier, thank you!!!
> 
> Without further ado, here is the SECOND chapter of 'For Once in My Life'!
> 
> Once you're finished reading, don't forget to leave a comment, letting me know what you thought about this chapter! I love hearing your feedback. Comments and Kudos are both heavily encouraged and greatly appreciated!
> 
> TW: Underage Drinking ! !

> I don't wanna leave your mind to wander
> 
> I'll surround you, make you feel sure
> 
> Got desire to make this right
> 
> 'Cause every single night I wanna feel your soul
> 
> _-'Make the Most' by Lonr._

* * *

“You need to change this word.” Amy circles a word on Danielle’s paper as they all sit in the kitchen and eat dinner, “You see how it doesn’t flow well with the other words?”

Danielle looks up from her pizza and blinks at Amy in confusion.

“I _did_ change it.” she leans forward and presses a finger on the paper, “Daddy and I reviewed it after you reviewed it at the beginning of the week, this is what we came up with.”

Dan looks over at Amy from the counter and gives a head tilt as he takes a sip from his water and raises an eyebrow at her.

“We sure did.” Dan places the glass back on the table, “Not to celebrate my adjustments too much but I think we captured the themes of the book well and gave it the appropriate verbiage that correlates with each sentence.”.

Quietly, she raises her chin at him and gives the paper a once over.

“Newsflash Einstein, _Deviation,_ and _Aberration_ mean the same thing and they are both words that a sixth-grader _wouldn’t_ use.” Amy leans forward and takes a bite of her salad. 

“I’m pretty sure those words are on my AP Psych study test,” Amelia speaks up from behind her phone.

Amy turns towards Dan with a raised eyebrow and gives a slight shoulder shrug. 

“Change the word to ‘normal’, Danielle.” Amy slides the paper over to the young girl then turns to stabbing her salad with her fork with one hand and texting rapidly on the other hand.

“But ‘normal’ makes it sound so.. _.kiddish_. I want my paper to sound like a high-schooler wrote it.” Danielle complains, her pigtails swinging in the air.

“Honey, if it sounds like a high-schooler wrote it then your teachers can accuse you of plagiarism, and then you’ll get in trouble,” Amy explains over her salad, “Besides, do you even know what these words mean?”.

Without answering, Danielle turns towards Dan and tilts her chin up at him.

“Daddy? What does _devi-ation_ and _aberration_ mean?” Danielle reads off the paper as she struggles with the pronunciation.

Amelia lets out a mocking laugh from the table behind Amy and Danielle.

“Stop laughing.” Danielle cranes her neck and orders her older sister demandingly.

“Why would you put a word you don’t know how to pronounce in your essay?” Amelia finally looks up, the loose strands of her messy bun falling in her face, “That’s stupid.”.

 _“You’re_ stupid,” Danielle responds instantly, wasting no time on going with the jugular.

“I’m not the one who needs Mom and Dad to write my essays, _stupid_ ,” Amelia comments with a sharp tongue, not holding back on the aggression in her voice.

“She’s mad because _I_ got to dance with her group today and everyone complimented me.” Danielle folds her arms over her chest and leans against the counter, her small lips falling into an overly-dramatic pout.

“Don’t flatter yourself, _Paige,_ they were just doing that to make you feel good.” Amelia focuses her attention back on her phone and scrolls slowly with one hand and feeding herself a slice of pizza with the other.

Danielle groans loudly, swiveling her chair so she’s facing Amelia.

“You know that isn’t my name anymore.” the offense is high in the young girl’s voice, “I hate that name.”.

“Okay then, _Paige_ ,” Amelia smirks to herself, relishing in her sister’s agony. 

As Danielle releases a loud groan of protest and turns to her parents for help Amy takes a deep breath and turns towards Amelia.

“Knock it off, Amelia. _Now._ ” Amy’s voice is stern and to the point.

“What?” Amelia is shocked to find both of her parents giving her an aggravated glare and laughs it off, “It’s funny.”.

“Not in the slightest.” Dan drops a new stack of napkins in the middle of the table Amelia sits at after he notices the holder’s contents have gone low, “And get your feet off the chair.” he taps her ankles. 

As she pulls her feet off the chair, Ben shuffles in, making a beeline for the remaining pizza box on the counter as he combs a hand through his light brown hair.

“Coach said they moved the trials up.” Ben looks to his parents for clarification, “Can you believe it?”

Knowingly, Dan and Amy exchange an uncomfortable look that catches the attention of all three of the kids in the room.

Unfortunately, both of their days were stacked by the minute so it didn’t leave them much time to strategize on how they would break the news to both Amelia and Ben that the Olympic Trials Ben has been training for intensely for the past few years is on the same day as the Graduation Amelia’s been looking forward to almost her entire life.

“They _uh._..moved it because the venue they originally had it planned was overbooked,” Amy speaks up, beating Dan to it. 

“That’s what he said.” Ben rips a slice of pizza from the box and grabs a paper towel with his free hand, “It’s in San Antonio now and it’s on the day of Mill’s graduation.”

And that causes the air to get sucked out of the kitchen immediately.

“ _What?”_ Amelia looks up from her phone with a raised eyebrow, “What are you talking about?”

“They moved the Trials to the day of your Graduation.” Ben covers his mouth as he eats.

Sensing Amelia’s worry, Amy speaks up, cutting Dan off before he speaks.

“Your Dad and I just found out about this, we’re figuring out how to go about things when that time comes.” she stands to her feet and drops the empty takeout bowl into the trash.

“Yeah, don’t worry about it.” Dan chimes in for extra effort, “We’re going to try and make sure that everything stays in place.”

“I don’t mind skipping her graduation.” Ben rips off another slice and slides into the seat Amy just slid off of.

“Me either.” Danielle speaks up as she feeds herself pizza with one hand and writes with the other, “I wanna go to San Antonio.” 

“Like Mom _just_ said, we’re still figuring things out.” Dan narrows his eyes at his youngest child who stares at him with her almond-shaped eyes.

“Well, _I_ obviously can’t go because I will be preoccupied during that time but I hope you eat shit going up the staircase before you give your little speech or whatever,” Ben smirks to himself and causes Danielle to laugh softly.

“Knock it off, Ben.” Dan slams the fridge door shut, grabbing his water and making his way towards the office to prepare to go to the studio for his call time, “Don’t be a jerk”.

“Yeah, Ben..don’t be a jerk.” Danielle points a finger at her brother and sticks her tongue out at him with a devilish smirk.

“You too, D.” Dan shuffles through the living room and up the staircase.

Dramatically, Amelia stands to her feet and snatches her remaining boxes from the table, and breezes past Amy without a second look.

“You okay?” Amy looks up with an arched eyebrow.

“Leave me alone,” she mumbles loud enough for the entire kitchen to hear her as she stomps up the staircase.

Turning to look at her two remaining children, both Ben and Danielle carry on with a regular conversation about god knows what as if they didn’t just upset their eldest sister and sent her stomping to her room out of frustration.

“Why would you guys say that stuff to your sister?” Amy puts a hand on her hip.

Both of the kids exchange a look with one another then turn to look at her like she has several heads.

“What did we say?” Ben rubs one of his shoulders.

Giving a defeated sigh, Amy opens the dishwasher and begins to place dishes into the trays-Dan insisted he washed the dishes last night but his version of clean is just not to her standards.

“You guys made her feel bad about her Graduation. That wasn’t nice of you to do.”

“She was being an asshole.” Danielle plays with the ends of her pigtails, all but ignoring her essay that’s half-erased on the counter.

“She was being a _what?_ ” Amy turns to Danielle, giving her a pointed look.

Danielle falls silent and shakes her head knowingly, “ _Nothing.”._

Before she can turn to continue loading the dishwasher Ben releases a small chuckle and earns himself a look for Amy as well and he quickly turns it into a cough.

 _“I...I_ wasn’t laughing.” he holds a hand up in defense, his voice slightly wavering out of nervousness.

“Look. I understand your sister wasn’t being the nicest she could’ve been but you guys didn’t need to tell her that you didn’t want to go to her Graduation.” Amy pulls away from the dish rack and runs a glass under the sink water. 

“She called me ‘Paige’.” Danielle taps her pencil on the counter, her body dramatically shuddering at the mention of her legal name.

“That’s your birth name. You decided you didn’t like it when you were five but that’ll always be your name.” Amy reminds her.

“That’s why I like my middle name better.” Danielle yawns and stretches her arms over her head, “It’s prettier.”.

“Regardless of that, I’ll talk to your sister about being nicer but you two need to leave her alone. She’s going to be upset that she won’t be able to celebrate her Graduation the way she wants to.” Amy places the last dish in the dishwasher and begins to search for the detergent pods.

“I’ll apologize when I get upstairs.” Ben gives Amy a small nod.

“Good.” Amy gives him an approving nod and turns towards Danielle with a raised eyebrow, waiting for her to follow in the footsteps of Ben.

“I’ll apologize if she apologizes,” Danielle responds with an unimpressed look, causing Amy to roll her eyes and shut the dishwasher door.

* * *

An hour or two after dinner, Amy finds herself outside of Amelia’s door and knocking on the white paneled door.

“It’s me. Can I come in?” 

From the other side of the door, she hears a few mumblings and hears Amelia’s soft footsteps shuffle towards the door.

When Amelia opens the door, the frustration and annoyance are clear on the teenager’s face and Amy mentally braces herself for the hissy fit she’s due to endure for the next few minutes.

“If you’re coming in here to make me apologize to them, I already did it.” her voice is dry and cold.

Making her way down the small entry steps of the room, Amy nods and slides herself onto the pink loveseat and crosses her legs the minute she sits down.

“That’s good.” she offers with a nod.

She watches as Amelia goes through her walk through closet and is actively rearranging its contents in color-coordinated order.

“But if you’re coming in here to tell me to not be angry about the trials moving to my Graduation date, I can’t promise that.” she snatches a white turtleneck from her bed and slides one of her pink hangers into the neck of the shirt. 

“I wasn’t going to tell you how to feel.” she shakes her head, “I can see why you would be upset over this.”

Amelia shakes her head, her brunette hair moves along with her movements as she reaches out and grabs a white crop top.

“This _always_ happens to me, you know?” she combs a hand through her hair, “I mean, I can never have one day to myself without sharing it with them.” 

There’s a slight truth in what she says.

All her life, Amelia always had to share whatever she had with either Ben or Danielle because she was the eldest and never got the privilege of enjoying doing things on her own.

“Well, I’m sorry you feel that way.” Amy’s voice is understanding, “But to be fair, we genuinely didn’t know that they would move the date up to your Graduation. It surprised us too.”.

Folding her arms over her chest, Amelia sits on her bed and taps her foot on the long gray chevron rug that’s under her bed, and tilts her head up.

“I just don’t understand why my stuff might get canceled.” her slender shoulders slump, “I mean, I’ve worked hard just as Ben does.” 

“You have and your Dad and I are both proud of you _but,_ we’re also proud of Ben and that’s fine,” Amy explains slowly, cautious of her words.

“He’s the favorite. You guys are always proud of him.” 

“We don’t have favorites.” Amy insists strongly, knowing exactly where this conversation can land.

This isn’t the first time one of the kids has said something like this. 

Every other day she always has to deal with either a question or far-fetched alluding comment that one of the kids makes regarding who they believe her and Dan’s favorite child is. 

And don’t get her wrong, she loves every single one of her children but, she’d never pick a favorite. 

“That’s what parents say when they have a favorite.” Amelia inspects her cuticles closely, pursing her full lips as she does so.

She’s not in the mood to go down this road any further, this is a constant topic of discussion in the house and she’s sick of it quite frankly.

“Besides that, what can your Dad and I do to make you feel better in case we have to cancel a few of your events?” Amy opens a hand towards her.

Surprised by Amy’s offer, Amelia stops inspecting her cuticles and begins to ponder in silence for a few moments.

“You guys let me go to Cabo with Heather and Kady.” she tilts her chin up at Amy.

_Shit._

The minute Amelia brought this trip up a few weeks ago, she and Dan shut it down without any hesitations because she was grounded for sneaking out of the house and she was planning to travel with her boyfriend at the time (who neither her nor Dan liked in the slightest).

“Mill-”

“You just asked me what you guys could do to make me feel better when you cancel my stuff and that would make me feel better,” she explains with her hands.

“Mill, I said _if_ not when. Big difference.” Amy blows out her cheeks.

Before Amelia can speak, the door opens softly, revealing Danielle who’s now dressed in her white sleep romper and has taken out her pigtails, letting her chestnut waves fly.

“Mommy? Can I order my book now?” her voice is soft.

“Out.” Amelia points with a stern finger, “I’m talking to Mom about something.” 

“I’m just asking her a question.” Danielle’s voice is high in defense, “I wanna make sure I have the book before everyone else finishes it and starts spoiling it.” 

Amy holds up a hand in confusion and turns towards Danielle who stands at the door with one hand on the doorknob, keeping it open.

“You need to order it now?” Amy looks at her watch and frowns, “D, it’s almost nine.”.

“I don’t wanna wait until the last minute.” Danielle insists, “Besides, Daddy said he would do it before he went to film the show but he already left to film the show so that leaves-”.

“Alright, alright.” Amy pinches the bridge of her nose, “Give me a second to finish talking with your sister.”.

 _“Ooo.”_ Danielle makes her way down the staircase and shuffles towards Amy, sliding herself on her lap, “What are we talking about? Is it her Graduation thing or her ex-boyfriend thing? I didn’t like her ex-boyfriend all that much.”.

“Mom.” Amelia cocks her head to the side; the annoyance clear on her face.

Amy taps Danielle’s shoulder and exhales.

“Your sister and I are talking about mature things.” Amy informs Danielle, “That’s why we need you to leave the room.”.

Danielle pouts and looks at Amy with her big eyes.

“I wanna talk about mature things too.” she protests, “I have a lot to say.”.

“I’m sure you do, honey. But right now your sister wants to talk to me alone and you have to respect that, _ok?_ ” she plays with the ends of Danielle’s full and luscious locks.

“Fine…” Danielle stands to her feet and drags herself up the small stairs; disappointment washing over her features as she gives a pout eerily similar to Dan’s.

“If you want, you can grab the Edible Cookie Dough from the fridge and get ready to watch Daddy’s show in my room. He comes on in ten.” Amy looks at her watch and crosses her legs as she leans into the chair.

“Okay…” Danielle sighs then shuts the door behind her.

After the door is shut for a few seconds, she turns her attention back to Amelia who is already on her feet and transferring clothes to her closet.

“You know she’s in my dance group now?” she tilts her chin towards the door, “I mean, I really can’t have anything for myself anymore.”.

“I understand, honey but I can’t do anything about that, I don’t own the studio.” she reminds her.

Amelia groans and snatches a gray tank top from her bed, “Can’t you call the studio or something and request for them to put her back in her group? I mean, she’s always with me now.”

She rubs her ankle softly and shakes her head.

“I mean I _could_ but that would hurt your sister’s feelings.” Amy explains slowly, “Besides, I can’t call somebody every time something that you don’t like happens. Life doesn’t work that way.”.

“I know that but you have no problem calling the school when our teachers say things you don’t like.” Amelia gesticulates dramatically, “How is this any different?”.

“Because some of your teachers are trying to influence your political beliefs through not-so-witty comments and shady remarks.” Amy defends herself.

It’s not like she denies doing this by any means. She did in fact call the Sidwell Friends Middle School campus office after Amelia’s teacher went on a rant about how the Meyer administration was the worst administration to ever take office and that didn’t sit well with her.

Especially when the Montez administration was a better option.

“All I’m saying is that I can’t deal with having her in class with me. It’s bad enough that we go to the same studio, now she has to be on my team?”.

"Your season ends in July and you graduate in a few weeks. Just tough it out." she taps her foot on the floor, extending a hand towards her, "If your teachers think your sister _deserved_ to be on your team then that's their decision and you have to honor it.".

Amelia leans against the door or her walk-in closet, sighing dramatically.

Before she can respond, Amelia's phone blares to life next to her on the vanity table and it almost causes her to jump out of her skin.

She cranes her neck down to look at the Caller-ID.

"It's Tatum." she picks it up and hands it towards Amelia.

Rolling her eyes, she holds up a hand and disappears back into her closet.

"Let it go to voicemail." she calls over her shoulder, "You know he asked me out _after_ he got rejected by someone else?" 

_Ah,_ to be Amelia with the champagne problems of teenage boys tripping over their oversized feet to talk to her.

She realizes she'll never be able to relate to Amelia on this level. She wasn't the most popular girl in school, the most athletic, or the most sought after by any means. 

That was all Sophie's territory.

Well, until she got knocked up her Senior year and her reign ended subsequently.

Luckily Dan and Amy have kept her _far_ away from that road as much as she can.

"Maybe he misses you," Amy suggests, knowing full well that it's a load of BS but it's what Amelia wants to hear.

"Had he not cheated on me then maybe he wouldn't miss me." she leans forward and pulls out a teal dress and throws it towards Amy, "Here you go.".

She could've sworn she was looking for this dress yesterday.

"How long have you had this dress?" she tilts her head in confusion.

"I mean I _kinda_ miss him but I _kinda_ don't...you know what I mean?" Amelia looks up from her clothing rack, "Like I miss him _physically_ but not mentally." 

She has to refrain from giving too much of a reaction.

When Amelia had confided in Amy that she was getting er.... _active_ with her boyfriend, she almost had a heart attack but kept it together because well, she didn't want to freak her out like her mother did when she was her age.

Sure, they had the talk and all that but Amelia's old enough to make her own decisions, and she has to trust that she's raised her well enough to know she'll make the best decision for herself.

And of course, she promised she wouldn't tell Dan because Dan is an emotional prick.

"I _think_ you need to take time for yourself." she suggests calmly, "There's nothing wrong with just being alone for a while, especially before you go to college.". 

Giving up on her closet, Amelia dramatically flops herself on her bed and looks over at Amy with big eyes.

"But what if there's like a slight part of me that still wants to be with him?" she suggests as she plays with her hands.

Her watch alerts her that Dan's show is due to begin in about 5 minutes so she stands to her feet and dusts off her leggings. 

"Then that's your prerogative." she gives a slight shrug, "But only decide if you want to do it. No one else.".

From the smile, Amelia gives her she can tell she's grateful for the advice but she can see the wheels turning in her devious little mind and nows damn well her advice went in one ear and out the other.

Well, at least she tried.

* * *

“The awards department at HBO wants to schedule a meeting with you next weekend, they’re beginning to plan your upcoming FYC events and they want your input.” Trina reads off of her tablet, dropping a stack of papers on his desk for his signature. 

“How many events do they want?” Dan slides on his glasses and pulls out a pen, beginning to rifle through the stapled papers and looking for where to sign.

Trina leans forward and places a finger at the bottom of the page, “Contract says five, HBO wants six.” 

“Tell them I’ll do four.” he quickly scribbles his signature then turns to the next page.

“Contract says five.” Trina reminds him.

“And I say four.” he gives her a pointed look over his glasses, “I’m not letting them work me like a dog for another awards season. Fuck that.”.

Trina blows out her cheeks and nods accordingly, scribbling a quick note on her tablet. 

“Got it.” she finishes scribbling and looks back up at Dan, “Any specific date you want to meet them?”.

“Tuesday at Noon will work.” he signs at the top of the page, “And make sure you have someone ready to report our increase in ratings. I need these fuckers to realize that I still have one of the best shows on HBO News.”

“I’ll have someone draft up a copy on that.” she points out a bold line on the page for him to sign.

Signing all of the remaining lines he finds, he looks back up at Trina with an expectant look.

“Anything else?” he leans back in his seat, hitting a few of his keys to boost his monitor on.

Knowingly, Trina scurries over to the door and shuts it, dusting her pencil skirt off as she makes her way back towards Dan’s desk.

“Actually, Zoe Burke’s people reached out. Apparently, she wants to have a meeting with you, she has a few things to discuss.” Trina taps her fingernails on the table screen.

Well that’s….fucking _not_ good.

“She reached out to the show or you?” he looks over his glasses for clarification.

“To me.” she confirms with a nod, “They didn’t mention anything about the show during their request for a meeting though.”.

He knows the name Zoe Burke well enough to know that nothing pleasant or calm follows her and he’s not in the mood to see her ever again whatsoever. 

Don’t get him wrong, the small stint they had before he and Amy got back together was somewhat entertaining and fun but that doesn’t mean he wants to relieve any of that whatsoever. 

He has Amy now and that’s really all he wants at this point. 

(He’s come to that point after careful consideration, of course).

“Well, you don’t need me to tell you to shoot that fuckin’ dear in the headlights.” he rolls his eyes and turns his attention to the flat screen hanging on the wall, wasting no time in turning it on and moving on from this conversation.

Trina stands to the side of the television with a pointed look.

“They were really insistent that you at least see her.” she tilts her head to the side, “They promised to keep it lowkey and off the record.”.

He can’t help but fucking snort at that. 

Nothing about Zoe Burke has ever been lowkey and or off the record, he’s learned that the hard way.

 _“Hard pass.”_ he props his feet onto his desk, leaning forward to grab his phone from the desk.

He swore to himself up and down that the last time he saw Zoe Burke was when he slid out of her apartment early in the morning and sent her a courteous _‘It’s been fun’_ text on his way to work and decided to get back with Amy.

The Universe must have it out for him because the minute the television comes to life, he sees Zoe in all of her supermodel glory strutting down a catwalk at one of the fashion week events for some high-end designer commercial.

He switches the channel immediately.

“I have her representative’s phone numbers if you want to schedule a meeting.” she drops a sticky note on the desk in front of him, “Writer’s room meeting in fifteen, though. I’ll call you five minutes before.".

The lime-green sticky note stares up at him in silence, waiting for his next move. He’s realized that he fucked up with Amy way too many times in the past to make another mistake, so he wants to just throw the damn note away to keep him safe.

He can’t help but wonder why she wants to meet with him now though.

It’s not like he could’ve knocked her up, it’s been proven that his sperm favors Amy more than anyone else and he willingly got himself snipped for good after Danielle was born.

And as far as he can remember, no one knew that they were fucking except for Trina and Trina hasn’t proved to be disloyal to him yet.

“Push the meeting back for five more minutes.” he pinches the bridge of his nose, “I have some phone calls to make.”.

From the look on Trina’s face, he can tell that she knows he’s serious and she wastes no time picking the signed papers from the table and leaving his office.

Instead of making the phone call he told Trina he’ll make, he makes sure the door is firmly shut and decides to go to her Instagram to see if he could suspect why she’s calling.

Is she promoting some garbage perfume? Does she have a clothing line to promote? Does she have someone she’s trying to get revenge on? 

And is _he_ the one she’s trying to get revenge on? 

Her Instagram is pretty generic, she has a few millions of followers (less than him and Amy he’d like to add), a shit ton of professionally taken photographs, and the occasional BS info-graphics that highlight mental awareness and body positivity and all that.

From their few conversations alone and their several encounters, he knows for a fact that all of this uplifting of her fellow _‘model sisters’_ movement is bullshit. She’s just as bloodthirsty and conniving as everyone else in DC is.

Going off of the aesthetics and a quick Google search, he concludes that she’s single and she’s supporting some boutique charity that supports Orphans becoming models for a day? 

The charity itself sounds as tone-deaf and idiotic as she is and that’s the quickest way for him to not want to give her the time of day to come on his show and promote it.

He runs a politics based show where he gives a sophisticated blend of comedy and truth in a nicely sealed and perfectly wrapped package-he has several Emmys to confirm this fact.

And there’s no way in hell that he’ll risk the hard-earned reputation of his show by having some model he selfishly fucked back in the day appear on his show to promote some bogus charity and water-based designer perfume.

He takes one last look at Zoe’s Instagram before he slides out of the app and rips the small sticky note with one swift move, dumping the lime green shreds into the trashcan under his bin.

If Zoe wants to go back to the few nights of glory they spent, that’s fine and completely up to her.

He just won’t be around to experience it this time.

And he’s completely fine with that.

* * *

“So where did this girl go to college?” Dan questions over his Chicken Sandwich.

As Amy digs in her purse to retrieve her IPad, she raises an eyebrow at him.

“Well the young woman went to Cornell, has a degree in Poli. Sci and Government and graduated at the top of her class and made an impression on her classmates there.” Amy reads off from her notes on her tablet.

He shoves a fry in his mouth and nods at the tablet.

“How big of an impression?” 

“She was a member of the SA and was elected as the President of the SA for the last two years of her time there.” She scrolls with one finger and uses the other to feed herself a slice of her grilled chicken.

Dan catches the attention of their waiter and points at his half-empty Iced Tea; signaling for a refill.

“How the hell did she end up in Michigan?” he pauses in confusion.

“Born and raised in the town of Springport and returned there after Graduating and immediately went into Politics. She beat out that Republican who was a cough away from death though.” Amy informs him with a tilt of her chin.

After the news of Zoe hit him like a truck from left field this morning, Dan somehow convinced Amy into getting lunch with him. 

He had told her that she can get him up to speed about the new client she and Michelle are taking on but, he really wants to see her so she can distract him from the whole Zoe thing.

Not that she knows anything about him and Zoe but seeing Amy in all of her workaholic glory just...does something to him. 

It’s a hot day today, so she’s dressed in a Chanel tweed skirt with a basic black tank top tucked into her skirt as opposed to her usual business wraps and dresses.

“Is she clean?” he raises an eyebrow.

“Clean?” Amy looks him up and down in confusion.

“Not of STDs or anything but does she have a clean record?” he elaborates.

Before Amy can respond, the waiter returns with another Iced Tea for Dan.

“Not even a parking ticket.” Amy admits after looking over her notes, “We even had Kent’s cybergeek team do a deep scrub on her and it looks like she’s a model citizen.”.

“Impressive,” Dan admits before shoving another fry in his mouth.

He knows for a fact that if he’s the one to publicize and somewhat endorse this woman before his peers do it, he’ll be a hero. 

Regardless of her party, he can tell that this young woman is going to be a very big deal when she gets older and more seasoned in politics and he wants to be apart of her rise with the general public by giving her her first televised interview.

“Has she done an interview before?” he leans back against the plush seating.

“You would unfortunately be her first.” Amy shuts off her tablet and leans back, almost mirroring his movement.

“Wouldn’t be my first time.” he jokes, not able to help himself. 

Amy’s eyes flash up at him dangerously.

 _“It’s a joke.”_ he teases with a raised hand in the air. 

“No, it’s not.” she rolls her eyes knowingly, picking up her phone and darting off a quick text message.

She’s right, it isn’t.

Sue him for trying to be funny, he can’t help it. 

“So let’s talk about this Graduation thing.” Amy suggests as she steals a fry from his plate, “What are you thinking so far?”. 

Aside from the phone call yesterday and the small conversation they all had last night, he hasn’t had much time to figure out what it is they’re going to do about this whole Graduation fiasco. 

Part of him feels like he has to go to Amelia’s graduation. Sure, there will always be other ceremonies for her but he refuses to be one of those parents that miss out on the big moments in his kid’s lives. 

But another part of him feels like has to be there for Ben. 

Not a lot of people make the Olympic Trials in their lives, let alone at 15 and if the kid can pull it off and make it, he needs to make sure he’s there to show everyone that Ben’s his son and he’s a proud parent and all of that BS.

He knows that either he or Amy could easily go with Ben while the other stays back with Amelia and Danielle but, he has a feeling that Amy will jump the gun and go with Ben and leave Amelia heartbroken.

Everyone knows that Amy has a soft spot for Ben and if she misses Amelia’s graduation it’ll just confirm everything.

“Well D is staying.” he starts simple, “She has her dance crap and summer camp shit and it makes no sense for her to go.”.

“I agree.” she leans forward and steals more fries from his plate.

He sighs and taps his fingernails on the marble table.

“Why don’t we let him choose,” Amy suggests as he takes a sip of his tea, “Whoever he wants to go with him, let him tell us.”.

 _“Why?_ So he can choose you?” he teases her, enjoying the way her shoulders tense up at him.

“You’re being annoying.” she finishes her meal and crosses her legs underneath the table.

“Wanna punish me for it?” he leans forward, letting his elbows rest against the table, “Our handcuffs haven’t been used in a while.”.

They’ve been together for some time now because she doesn’t give a slight reaction to him alluding to something so provocative but instead ignores him by checking her reflection in her compact mirror.

“I don’t know why you bothered to buy those things.” she turns her head to look at her right cheek, “They fucked up my wrists the last time.” 

He laughs to himself when he remembers the last time they used them.

It was probably six months ago and after they had a few drinks too many and the house was free of the kids, they didn’t hesitate to break them out and take advantage of their empty house.

Deciding to fuck with her more, he scoots over to the side she’s sitting on and throws an arm around her shoulder, relishing in her slight yelp of surprise and body jolt.

“What are you-”  
“Wanna come back to my office for a quickie?” he offers her with an eyebrow wiggle.

“Absolutely….not.” she gives him a pointed look, “I told you that I’m done having sex with you in your office.”.

He lowers his head with a groan and looks back up at her.

Thanks to Zoe’s name being mentioned near him by Trina earlier, he figures that nothing will get her off of his mind quicker than a nice quickie from Amy.

“If this is because of the cameras you know I can turn them off before we get started.” he reasons then takes a good look at his watch, “Besides, everyone should be heading out for lunch soon.”.

He can’t help himself and he can tell she notices it from the subtle smirk she sneaks at him as she closes her mirror and drops it in her purse.

“As much as you would appreciate that, I actually have work to get back to” she points a finger in the middle of his chest as the waiter comes by and places the bill in the middle of the table, “And besides, I can’t have sex.”.

He frowns at her in confusion.

“What are you sore or something?” he looks her up and down in confusion.

She scoffs and gives him a get-real look, “I’m bleeding, Dan.”.

He shudders at that in disgust and his nose scrunches.

No wonder her tits looked fuller and perkier his morning. 

“That shut you up, didn’t it?” she chuckles to herself, reaching into her wallet to pull out her black Amex and siding it into the white check presenter. 

He leans forward to grab his tea and takes a long sip of it.

“Sure, did.” he sighs.

Thanks to her three pregnancies, Dan has seen way too much of the female anatomy to know when to tap out and he acknowledges that he’s not remotely interested in seeing any of Amy’s parents for the next 5-7 business days.

In an unusual chorus of chimes, both he and Amy’s phones blare off at the same time and he’s too relaxed to reach for his phone right now, especially knowing that Amy will just recite whatever happened out loud to him.

After a few minutes of Amy reading off her phone, he raises an eyebrow at her.

“What happened?”.

“An intern from the Nichols’ administration leaked an audio of him calling the Nurses of George Washington ‘ _Greedy, Lazy and Unlawful Pigs_ ’ after many of them refused to do the White House visit.”.

_Fuck._

“How long is the audio?” he sits up straight. 

Amy scrolls for a few moments and squints at her screen.

“Fifteen minutes and ten seconds exactly.” Amy gives a devilish grin to him, knowing how extreme this is.

He’s not the biggest fan of President Nichols but he knows for a fact that Amy deeply despises him and this may be the best news she’s heard in a long time. 

The rest of the restaurant must pick up on this news because within the next few minutes the restaurant leaps into a large lunchtime chatter where everyone is scrubbing through the audio for potential news bites.

“Watch my stuff, I’m going to the bathroom.” Amy slides out of the booth, leaving him alone for a few moments.

While she’s in the bathroom, Dan quickly switches out their credit cards and hands it to their waiter, getting rid of the evidence quickly.

As he’s darting off a text to Trina and an email with the audio attachment of Nichols’ to his writing team, he’s met with Michelle who is now standing in front of the table with a latte in one hand and her phone in the other.

“Where’s Amy?” she questions.

“ _Michelle.”_ he offers a small wave, “Are greetings still not processed in your robotic system?” 

She offers a fake laugh, throwing her straight blonde hair behind her back as she looks around the restaurant.

“Very funny.” she offers without a smile, “I’m here for Amy. We have to figure out a way to beat the Nichols administration’s flat-asses regarding this tape in the next few hours.”.

 _“Easy._ Amy can appear on the show tonight.” he suggests without much thought because it’s the most obvious choice, “I’m already getting some requests from some people in the Nichols administration to clear this tape up tonight, she can sit in on the conversation.” 

“Have you spoken to Amy about that? Or is this something else she doesn’t know about until the last minute?” Michelle waves a finger at him.

For whatever reason, Michelle still doesn’t like him around. Sure, he and Amy had their tiffs back in the day when the kids were first born and all of that but now, everything is patched up and working better than ever but that still doesn’t satisfy her for whatever reason.

Not that he cares by any means but it is annoying knowing someone like that is around his own wife 24/7.

“What are you doing here?” Amy blinks in confusion as she returns to the table and sees Michelle standing over the table.

“We have to get back to the office.” Michelle states like it’s obvious, “We have to strategize how we’re gonna react to this tape thing before everyone else starts reacting.”.

“I told Michelle here that she can appear on the show tonight. It’s a Friday night and you’ll probably go up against someone from the Nichols campaign,” he explains after Amy turns to him for his side. 

Sighing, Amy lifts her bag from the table and slides it onto her arm. 

“Works for me.” she leans forward and presses a quick peck on the side of his cheek, “See you then.”.

He can tell that the small form of PDA annoys Michelle to an extent because she turns around and struts away from the table the minute Amy presses her lips against his cheeks. 

Not that she would but he knows for a fact that if Amy ever cheated and or decided to leave him, it would all be Michelle’s doing.

* * *

“So are you gonna make the Olympics?” One of Amelia’s friends, Heather, asks him after she has him trapped in the corner at some party Amelia dragged him to later that Friday night.

He offers a small smile and runs his hand through his hair.

“I don’t know yet.” he offers, “I have to make it first.” 

He watches as Heather throws her blonde hair behind her back and moves closer to him, nestling a red solo cup in her hand.

 _“I think you’ll make it.”_ she looks him up and down, “And when you do I’ll be the first one to tell everyone I knew you could do it.”

He gives an earnest nod, “Thanks.”.

He goes to move but the closer Heather gets the more he’s pushed into the corner of the wall, and she’s right next to Ben.

This isn’t unusual behavior for Heather.

She and Amelia have been friends since third grade when she moved to DC from Maine and also started attending Amelia’s dance studio and they have been inseparable ever since.

He had noticed that when Heather and Amelia started 7th grade and Ben was in 5th, Heather started being unusually nice to him and always showered him with attention whenever Amelia wasn’t around.

Don’t get him wrong, at first, it was cool and all; having an older girl show interest in him at such a young age but now, he just finds it...weird and he doesn’t exactly love the attention she gives him.

Especially when she gets drunk like this.

Trying to find a way out, he looks around the crowded downstairs area of the home and notices Amelia in the backyard area of the house; cradling a red cup and sitting in the lap of her ex-boyfriend.

Heather must notice him looking for a way out because she leans against the wall and gives him a knowing look.

“If you’re thinking of getting in between Mill and Tatum then I wouldn’t.” she speaks up, “She’s been plotting this out for a good two weeks.”.

It doesn’t take a genius to know that, anyone could look at her ridiculously short denim shorts and tight crop top and figure it out.

“Figures.” he rolls his eyes, almost leaping out of his skin when Heather slides her hand in his and squeezes tight.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees his teammates pointing at him and pretending to hump the air, causing him to groan and look away, continuing to look for an out.

This is the last thing he needs, some stupid rumor of him sleeping with his sister’s best friend when he’s not even remotely attracted to her. 

Don’t get him wrong, Heather is a very pretty girl but she’s just not his type, that’s all.

He doesn’t even have a definite type but he knows if he did have one, it wouldn’t be Heather.

As he tries to get his hand out of her grip, she holds it tighter and her eyes glisten at him.

“ _Why don’t we go upstairs?_ ” she speaks quietly so only he can hear her under the dangerously loud and explicit rap music and loud talking from the hundred of intoxicated teenagers lounging in the house, “We have a room that no one knows about.”.

Absolutely fucking not.

He’d actually kill himself if he did anything with any of Amelia’s friends. He’d like to think he’s not that desperate and would never let himself get that desperate.

“I’m good.” he takes a step back and finally retrieves his hand from her grasp.

He’s too busy backing up from her that he almost stumbles onto his ass-backward and he hits the wooden stair banister with a loud thud and there’s a small gasp.

 _“Fuck, sorry!”_ he leaps back and is met with Ekaylah who leans against the banister with a group of girls.

And he goes quiet, embarrassed at the situation God has thrown him into yet again.

Ekaylah must be shocked too because her jaw is dropped as it dawns on her that it’s him.

“Ben?” she blinks in confusion.

“Hey…” he tries to play off the fact he almost gave himself a concussion, “I _uh,_ I didn’t see you there.” 

“It’s fine!” she insists strongly, “We weren’t really trying to be seen anyway.”

There’s a moment when they both just awkwardly stare at one another, not letting a word come out between the two of them and it makes the hair on his arm stand up.

He hasn’t seen her since yesterday and it’s strangely felt like a week since then.

 _“E!_ ” her friend with a darker skin complexion points at Ekaylah’s chest, “You have a stain.”

Both his and Ekaylah’s eyes fall to the large, beer stain on her white tank top and he feels his heart racing in his throat.

Every time he thinks this night has been bad then the universe suddenly makes it worse.

 _“Crap!”_ she exclaims, craning her neck around for napkins or a towel.

“Here.” One of her auburn-haired friends jumps into the circle and pushes the napkins in her hands.

He awkwardly stands there apologizing as Ekaylah hurries to clean up the stain stamped on her shirt.

One of the girls, who he swears he’s seen before looks at him up and down and gives him a distinct frown.

“Ben Egan?” the tallest of the group with curly hair points at him.

God, not this.

“Yeah.” he offers shortly, turning his attention back to Ekaylah, “You sure you ok?”.

Ekaylah’s slender shoulders fall and as she gives a small laugh.

“Well my shirt is ruined but I’m fine. Nothing my Mom can’t handle.” she consoles with a gentle smile, the light of the chandelier hitting her small necklace.

Before he can stop himself, he pulls off his flannel shirt and hands it to her.

“Just to cover it up.” he shrugs softly.

She takes it graciously and slides into it quickly, pulling the black material so it covers the big ugly stain on her chest.

“Thanks.” she dimples at him.

“We were actually gonna head outside.” the auburn-haired girl speaks up, “You wanna join us?”

He feels his heart race pick up.

“Of course.” he nods too enthusiastically for his liking.

As they make their way out of the crowded house to the large backyard that isn’t so crowded, Amelia breezes past him, dragging Tatum behind by his hand and he can’t help but roll his eyes. 

All of that crying and screaming Amelia did after they broke up seems so unnecessary now.

“Aren’t your parents like famous or something?” One of Ekaylah’s friend’s chimes in while he and Ekaylah are in a conversation of their own as they sit next to the fire pit.

God, not this.

From the way Ekaylah looks at him, he can tell that she’s just as interested in his answer as her friends are and it gets him even more nervous.

Every time people find out who his parents are they always revert the conversation into asking a million questions about them or asking for a shit ton of favors that his parents would never do in a million years.

He opens his mouth to answer but he’s cut off by one of Ekaylah’s friends again.

“His Dad is Dan Egan.” the one with curly hair says, “And his Mom is Amy Brookheimer.”

The red-haired girl’s eyebrows perk up at Ben in surprise; shock washing over her face.

“Your Mom is Amy Brookheimer?” she stares at Ben, “ _Stop._ I love her.”

“ _Stop?_ Stop what?” Ben turns to Ekaylah and her curly-haired friend for guidance.

“She just says that when she’s excited.” Ekaylah offers a hand wave.

“Why aren’t you guys freaking out about this? His Mom is Amy Brookheimer.” the red-head looks at the group in shock, “I mean, she’s one of the best Political heads in DC, I love her.”

Well, that’s nice.

And very creepy.

But nice for the most part.

“That’s… _.cool._ ” Ben stutters, unsure of what to say.

“You didn’t know his sister was Amelia too? I dance with her.” the curly-haired girl speaks up and it all dawns on him at that moment.

“Wait. You dance with Millie?” he turns towards her with a raised eyebrow,

“We’ve been on the same team since we were eight.” she informs him with an unimpressed look, “I’ve been to your house like five times.” 

Shit, no wonder she looked familiar.

“Well...nice to meet you. _Again._ ” he catches himself at the end.

“Do you even know my name?” the girl’s eye flashes at him dangerously, not letting him get away with his ignorance.

Unfortunately, he’s lost on her name. Had she been one of Amelia’s more notable friends, he would’ve known it immediately but he doesn’t know it at all.

She must pick up on his confusion and rolls her eyes.

 _“Jordy,_ ” she informs him with an unimpressed glare.

Ah, Jordy.

From what he remembers, Amelia isn’t too fond of Jordy. The more and more her face becomes more familiar to Ben, he can hear Amelia’s loud and completely unnecessary complaints about Jordy that she’s shared over the years.

“Jordy.” he nods as if the name came to him a second before she told him, “Yeah, yeah, I remember you.”.

Unimpressed by his clear attempt of saving his ass, she gives him a disgusted glare and turns to begin a conversation with her auburn-haired friend.

“That’s Jordy and the other one is Ryleigh.” Ekaylah points at Jordy and her other friend as they laugh at something on Jordy’s phone, “I forgot she danced with your sister.” 

“I did too.” he whispers so only Ekaylah can hear him, “I thought all of her dance friends went to school with us.”.

Ekaylah gives a soft smile and brings her knees to her chest, shuddering from the cold wind that sweeps through the backyard.  
“We all go to Woodrow,” she informs him.

He pauses for a minute as an eyebrow arches up at her in confusion.

_“Woodrow Wilson?”_

She nods and tucks a strand of her brown hair behind her ear.

“You seem scared.” she teases him, “Don’t worry, we don’t all bite.".

He gives a slight laugh; feeling guilty if he made her feel insecure about where she goes.

To be quite honest, Ben doesn’t care that much about high school (or school for that matter), he thinks it’s weird that kids his age find so much joy and pride in the school they attend. Who cares if you’re going to Sidwell or Woodrow? 

High School sucks no matter where you go as far as he’s concerned. 

“So _uh..._ how do you know Heather?” he takes notice of Heather who is now dancing sloppily against some guy from Ben’s swim team, causing him to wince 

“I don’t.” Ekaylah frowns slightly as Heather begins to make out with Ben’s teammate, “Jordy dances with her, I guess.” 

Shit, everyone was connected in this fucking town. 

“Got it.” he nods, not knowing what to say next.

Ekaylah must pick up on this because she awkwardly sighs and runs a hand up and down her arm, tilting her chin up at Heather.

“Shouldn’t you be.. _.intervening?_ ” her voice is filled with confusion.

“Intervening what?” he notices his shoelaces are loose and makes quick work of tying them back.

Ekaylah points a low finger at Heather and his teammate who is now disgustingly close and practically humping one another against the wall as the music lingers on in the background.

“Aren’t you guys dating?”

“ _Dating?_ ” he practically leaps off the grass, “Absolutely not.”

“Oh.” Ekaylah blinks in surprise, “I thought you guys were like a thing.”. 

Shit, this is the last thing he wanted. 

“No, No.” he shakes his head vigorously, “We...we aren’t even friends, I only know of her because of my sister, that’s all.”.

“Got it.” Ekaylah nods, giving a timid smile.

They sit in an uncomfortably silent bubble as the party around them rages on, people either dancing or running right past them like they don’t exist and it feels good to not be seen.

It’s tiring being the center of attention all the time, sometimes he wants to just sit back and relax.

It isn’t until he overhears Ekaylah talking about something else with her friends that he notices the charm bracelet dangling off her right wrist.

“Is that a Harry Potter bracelet?” he speaks before he can help himself.

She pauses and looks down at the bracelet with a surprised look.

“You know Harry Potter?” her jaw slightly drops.

“I read all of the books two times and I love the movies.” he stretches his legs out in front of him on the grass.

And Ekaylah’s face lightens up animatedly and under the moonlight, it’s one of the prettiest things he’s seen in a long while.

“What house are you?” she all but forgets her conversation with her friends and turns to face him, collapsing her legs into criss-cross applesauce.

“Hufflepuff. You?”

“Hufflepuff.” she giggles.

It’s something so trivial and minor but it makes him so excited. 

Every time he mentions Harry Potter to his friends, they always laugh and ridicule him for finding interest in it so he doesn’t bother mentioning it anymore.

But it’s not like that with Ekaylah.

Within seconds they’re talking about their favorite spells, characters, books and it’s the most exciting conversation he’s had in ages.

Luckily he isn’t talking about himself, swimming, or his parents so he feels so much more relaxed and open to speaking. Typically, he knows he can be quite shy around other people but now...he doesn’t feel that as much.

He can tell that they’re been talking for some time now because Jordy and Ryleigh have excused themselves to go find their other friend who they apparently lost at the beginning of the party and Ben has lost the feeling in his legs.

“So you just moved to DC?” he dusts the imaginary dust off of his jeans.

“Kinda.” she offers a half-shrug, “I moved at the start of the school year so I've been here for a few months now.”.

It’s weird to think of people not being from DC. His entire life he’s lived in DC and the idea of being born somewhere else just feels so weird and unnatural to him.

He’s also convinced his parents would automatically shut down if they didn’t live 20 mins away from the White House. 

“Where did you live before?” 

“Orange.” 

_“County?”_ his eyebrows hike up in surprise.

 _“New Jersey.”_ she corrects timidly, “Orange, New Jersey.” 

_“Oh.”_ he feels like the dumbest person alive, “I didn’t even know it was a town.”

“Yeah it’s not a popular town.” she admits with a soft laugh, “It’s like a twenty-eight-minute drive from New York on a good day.”.

He’s embarrassed that his hands are so fucking clammy. He feels like a nerd for getting so nervous around her. 

He can’t help it though.

Under the moonlight, she’s absolutely gorgeous and the light falls on her so perfectly that she could easily pass off as one of those models that pose on all of the high-end magazines Amelia is always reading.

She must catch his eye as he looks at her because she offers a large grin, a surge of bubbly laughter erupting from the back of her throat.

“What do I have a bug on my face or something?” she sits still, her eyes darting in a slight panic.

“No, no.” he chuckles, “The lighting just looks...really good on you.” 

“Oh.” she unfreezes her movements and stretches her legs out in front of her, similar to him, “Thank you.”.

Then he gets a brilliant idea and the words leave his mouth before he can edit his thoughts.

“Can I take a photo of you?” he offers, showing his phone.

“ _Of me?_ ” she puts a hand on her chest, stumbling over her words as a blush sears on her face.

“Don’t worry, it’ll look nice.” he insists, taking notice of how she tries to hide her eyes from him.

There’s a moment of silence between them.

He wants to go back and act like he never said anything about the damn picture, he should’ve known it made him sound like a serial killer.

“Take it...but don’t let me know when you do.” she turns her body so he can only see her side profile.

“Got it.” his heart begins to race as he opens the camera on his phone.

He quickly takes a few good pictures; photography is a small hobby of his so it’s not hard for him to take a good few photos but they both get surprised when someone shouts that the cops are on their way and everything goes batshit in a matter of seconds.

Luckily he knows where Amelia parked the car so he can afford to leave her behind and make his way to the car on his own but he’s not so sure about Ekaylah and her transportation situation.

“I don’t know where Jordy went.” Ekaylah groans in defeat as they stand to their feet, making their way towards the broken wooden gate a few kids shuffle through ahead of them.

“Did Jordy drive?” he turns to her after he’s helped her slide through the gate.

“Ryleigh did.” she types on her phone in a panic as they begin to job through the backlot area where they follow a small crowd of kids from the party who cautiously make their way towards their cars with their flashlights on their phone in full force, “ _God_. If my parents find out I was at a party. They’ll kill me.”

He sympathizes with her on this.

Not that Amelia cares but if Ben were to get into any kind of trouble for attending a party, he’d lose it. He hates getting in trouble and tries to avoid it at all costs.

“Do you think you need a ride home?” he offers as they duck under a tree branch, “I can see if we can drop you off.”.

“You don’t have to.” she insists strongly, catching herself before she slips on a strand tree stump, “I’m sure they’re somewhere.”.

It takes them a good five minutes to locate Amelia’s car without getting stopped by any adults and it’s a small success but when they don’t find Amelia there, he’s tasked with another job.

Finding where the fuck she is.

He spams her phone with as many calls as he can for the next few minutes as they stand by the car and it isn’t until a beat-up SUV pulls up next to them that he stops in his tracks.

“Get in the car! We’ve been looking everywhere for you,” Ryleigh reveals herself as she hangs her head out of the driver’s window, pointing a thumb at the car behind her.

“I’ve been calling you guys!” Ekaylah throws her hands in the air and begins to make her way towards the car, leaving Ben alone at Amelia’s car.

 _“Isn’t that Ben Egan?”_ he hears a male voice question loudly from the back of the car.

He offers a small wave to Ekaylah and goes back to focusing on finding out where Amelia is.

“Here’s your shirt.” Ekaylah’s sweet voice brings him back to attention, “Thanks for letting me borrow it.”.

When he looks up, he sees her extending the jacket towards him; a small smile on her features.

 _“Oh._ ” he remembers like a dumbass, “No worries. You looked cold anyway.”.

“And just send the photos to my number.” she waves a small hand, “I’m sure they looked great before you got distracted.”.

Her number? He gets to get her number without asking for it?

“Yeah uh, what’s your number?” he all but forgets about trying to save Amelia’s ass as he pulls out his phone.

She quickly recites her number as her friends shout and tease for her to hurry up and by the time they’re done, he’s certain he’s smiling like an idiot.

They quickly bid their goodbyes and he watches as she climbs back into the SUV and they take off down the suburban streets of DC like a bat out of hell.

Luckily he finds Amelia’s car keys in the pocket of his flannel; he must’ve snuck them after he noticed she began to drink and quickly slides into the driver’s seat, making one last effort of calling Amelia.

After the line trills a few more times, she finally answers.

“Where the fuck are you?” she angrily answers the phone.

“In your car, dumbass. Where are you?” his eyes scrunch in confusion as he puts the phone on speaker, turning the car engine on.

“I’m behind the houses in the back lot with Tatum. Can you please just come and get me?”. Her voice is small and somewhat desperate.

“Are you drunk?” he questions as he pulls away from the parking spot and makes a sharp right turn down the end of the block, bringing him to the dirt area of the backlot.

“Shut the fuck up.” she bites back.

That’s all the confirmation he needs.

Luckily they don’t live too far away from where they are so it’ll be a quick drive for him and the chances of him getting caught driving without his license are low enough.

He pulls up to where Amelia and Tatum stand, practically arguing in one another’s faces and he rolls his eyes knowingly.

“Get in the car.” Ben rolls down the window.

“Call me when you want to be a fucking adult.” Amelia pushes the boy away from her, sliding into the passenger seat of the car as the boy stares at her with a shit-eating grin.

He wastes no time in speeding away from Tatuma and making their way back onto the street and beginning to make their way back home.

“ _You ok?_ ” he notices a frown lowering on Amelia’s forehead.

She gives a dramatic groan and folds her arms over her chest, “Yeah.”. 

Even though she doesn’t sound okay, he doesn’t care all that much. 

As far as he’s concerned he’s doing great.


	3. How Much I Feel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Did you even tell him what I told you to?” Amy raises her chin at him.
> 
> And this is where he freezes for a moment. 
> 
> It’s not like he remembers what Amy told him a few days ago, he can barely remember what she said to him last night because there’s so much shit that happens between them and in their world. One minute it could be about politics and the next it could be about one of the kids.
> 
> Plus they’re unfortunately getting older. If whatever he was supposed to do didn’t have any real sense of urgency then he automatically put it on the back burner.
> 
> His silence must answer Amy’s question because she hangs her head and shakes it gently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The third chapter already! 
> 
> Thank you so much to those of you who have supported this story and showered it with your love, I greatly appreciate it!
> 
> Without further ado, here's the third installment of 'For Once in My Life'!
> 
> Make sure to leave a comment letting me know what you thought and a kudos if you haven't already!

_Sleep alone, and late at night I'm dreamin'_

_Of the togetherness_

_That seems to be leavin' me_

-'How Much I Feel' by Ambrosia

* * *

“The audio of President Nichols’ explosion towards the nurses and staff at George Washington hospital has now hit half a million views on Youtube alone, making it one of the fastest videos to garner that many views in under a few hours. To discuss this now notorious recording I am joined by the Counselor to the President, Carlisle Fitzpatrick, and Political Strategist, Amy Brookheimer.” Dan looks into the main camera as he reaches for the notes the Stage Manager slides onto the desk.

“Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mrs. Brookheimer. Thank you both for joining us, let’s get right into it.” he nods his head to the camera as the live feed cuts to Amy (who’s in her office studio) and Fitzpatrick who is sitting in his office with a look on his face that indicates he isn’t ready for this battle whatsoever and he likes that.

He can’t wait for Amy to slap this loser around on live television.

“Mr. Fitzpatrick. It’s been a few hours since this audio has been released and we haven’t heard an apology or really anything from the Nichols’ administration. Can you walk me through where your Administration is right now?”

Fitzpatrick takes a deep breath that’s enough to let both him and Amy know that this will be a fucking dog walk in the park.

“Well Dan, our administration is working adamantly to ensure that the nurses at George Washington know that this audio was severely taken out of context and chopped up by the media to pursue friction between the President and them before his upcoming visit.”

“Are you alluding that the full fifteen-minute audio was condensed by the media?” he blinks in confusion, “I mean, that’s a bold claim for a President that has a pretty solid approval rating with both U.S citizens and the media.” 

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” Fitzpatrick nods, his greying hairs being caught in his frat-boy hairstyle that he’s too old and too fat to pull off, “Look, if you listen to the full audio, you can easily tell where the media picked and prodded their way into creating a scandalized copy for coverage and it’s quite disrespectful.”

He leans back in his seat and points towards Amy’s side of the screen, noticing her signature dismissive scoff of disgust.

“Amy. What do you think? You think this audio was created by the media to put the President in hot waters?”

“Absolutely not.” she responds, cutting straight to the chase, “President Nichols doesn’t need audio of him disrespecting health care workers to land him in hot waters when his reputation has been doing that by itself.” 

He opens his mouth to speak but Fitzpatrick beats him to it.

“The President has a noble reputation with the American public. He has respect for all workers, healthcare or not. This tape was edited by the liberal media to push an agenda of hate that President Nichols simply doesn’t have.”

“I mean you keep saying that the tape was edited but there’s no actual footage both visual or audio to certify that claim. Do you have that with you?” Dan turns to Fitzpatrick after he quickly peeks down to peer over his notes.

“Not with me right now, no.” Fitzpatrick shakes his head in small defeat, “But listen, we are working with the FBI to help track down exactly who edited the audio and when we do obtain the actual audio that proves President Nichols’ innocence.” 

Dan winces in annoyance as he listens to Fitzpatrick begin to stumble over his words and his story, at this point, it’s so painfully obvious that the Nichols administration has no interest or desire in apologizing or taking account of what happened and he knows he has to turn the conversation into comforting him about it. 

He grabs a piece of paper from his side and quickly scribbles a message for the Stage Manager to text Amy so he can quickly text it to her.

‘He told a co-worker that an apology wouldn’t happen. Confront him about it’ he quickly scribbles then slides it off the stage manager off-camera, keeping his body in the tight frame so no one suspects anything.

Behind the cameras, he sees the Stage Manager has made his way towards Trina who sees the note and begins to furiously type on her phone and sends a thumbs up the minute she sends the text which is luckily around the time Fitzpatrick finally stops speaking.

“Fitzpatrick, you have to admit. This is not a good look for the President.” he speaks with his hands, “Whether the tape was edited or not, the words were clearly said and there has been no response from your administration about it except for you claiming that the tape was edited because the press doesn’t like him.” 

“Words were said, Dan. But the exact words..the words you all hear on the tape have been edited to paint the President in a certain light.” 

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Amy tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear and that’s the signal that she’s gotten the text and she’s ready to say something.

A few years back they decided to come up with a signal for Dan to know when Amy's gotten the information he sent to her during any interview Amy comes onto the show to do.

“Amy. I’m curious, as someone who’s worked in a Presidental Administration, do you see any fault with what’s going on?”

“I do.” Amy’s voice is as sharp as her eyeliner, “Anyone who’s worked in any kind of administration knows that there will be times when your boss says or does something wrong and to get into good standing with those who are affected by the mistakes, taking accountability is the first step and the fact that you, Mr. Fitzpatrick, told a staffer that an apology _wouldn’t_ happen is all the proof we need to know that the President did something wrong and your administration has no interest in owning up to it.”.

God, he loved it when she made grown men look like bitches on national television.

With her Veronica Lake curled hair, monochrome gray pantsuit, and the marble grey Rolex he got her for her birthday two years ago, she looks like she could take on the world if she wanted to and knows it completely.

“I’m sorry. Dan.” Fitzpatrick shakes his head as a series of chuckles erupt from him, “It’s just comical to me that someone from the Meyer administration is lecturing my administration for lack of apologies.” 

“That’s a bit pretentious, don’t you think?” Dan can’t help himself, “And if I can recall clearly as a former member of the Meyer administration, we never alluded that any audio was edited to make our administration look bad.” 

“And we _apologized._ Big difference.” Amy chimes in right behind him, giving an unimpressed glare, “It’s your administration that’s conjuring up lies instead of taking accountability for their actions.”

“Name one time the Meyer administration apologized for anything.” Fitzpatrick’s voice is demanding yet panicked, “Because I can’t.” 

He opens his mouth to speak but Amy cuts him right off.

“During a 2012 trip to Helsinki, Dan was given a nickname for apologizing so much to the press for an innocent song Former President Meyer sang a few days prior at an event,” Amy speaks with her hands.

“I was.” Dan nods in agreement, the memory sending a shudder down his spine.

“I don’t remember that.” Fitzpatrick shuts her down defiantly, giving a childish eye-roll, “The Meyer administration was one of the most flawed Administrations this country has ever seen. Pardon me if I don’t remember the one-time accountability weakly was taken.” 

“You were in prison during that time, Mr. Fitzpatrick.” the words roll off of Amy’s tongue as she tilts her head to the side, “I wouldn’t expect your memory to be all the way there when you falsely claimed to your Judge that you had dementia for your sentence to be shorter.” 

Shit.

It isn’t exactly a low blow in all honesty.

When Fitzpatrick was sentenced to federal prison for not paying his taxes, he claimed he had dementia so his sentence could be shaved down. 

It would’ve been a valid case if he had dementia but, he didn’t.

And since then he became one of the biggest laughing stock of DC, right after Jonah.

Behind the camera, he can see the 1st AD tapping on the countdown clock with her finger, indicating that he has about thirty seconds to end this segment and move on.

“Before I let you go, Carlisle.” Dan holds up a hand, cutting off Amy and Fitzpatrick who continue to go back and forth, “I am going to ask you one more time if you want to take this time to apologize to the nurse's President Nichols insulted on tape. Will you?”

Carlisle shakes his head furiously, his red flushed face practically flared at this point.

“There’s nothing to apologize for.” he repeats himself for what seems like the millionth time, “Dan, this audio w-”

“That’s all the time we have.” he throws a hand in the air, “Mr. Fitzpatrick, Mrs. Brookheimer, thank you both for your time.” 

God, he couldn’t wait to see her back at home.

There’s something just so sexy and badass about her coming onto his show looking sexy as ever and making grown men look like complete amateurs on national television.

* * *

“I mean, that idiot had the nerve to come onto my show and lie about a goddamn tape.” Dan rolls his eyes as he finishes shaving his chin, turning off the switch on the silver shaver and craning his neck to grab the packaging box, “He looked like a fucking idiot.” 

“Mmhm.” he hears Amy from the bed through the walls.

“I mean, it's is an insult to my intelligence.” he turns to the side to retrieve a face towel after he starts the faucet, “Who cares about Nichols enough to edit audio when it isn’t necessary. He isn’t that fucking special.” 

“Mmhm,” Amy repeats herself as Dan continues to rant out loud, not paying attention to the sounds she makes every so often.

By the time he’s done washing off his face and rubbing in his aftershave, he’s practically red in the eyes and drags himself to bed.

Sitting up against the pillows, Amy has her glasses resting on the tip of her nose as her eyes are locked and zeroed-in on the flatscreen ahead of her.

“What the hell are you watching?” he frowns as he slides into the bed as notices Ben Affleck sitting at the bar looking exceptionally gloomy on the screen.

“Gone Girl.” her voice is soft.

Unfortunately for her, Dan has other plans.

He leans forward and wraps an arm around her waist, pressing a kiss on the base of her neck and trailing his way up to her cheek.

“You looked great tonight.” he offers and keeps his hand on her hip, “I love watching you give Republicans verbal ass kicks on national television.” 

“I’m flattered but I’m trying to watch my movie.” she gives him an aggravated look but a small smile breaks through.

He snorts at her, “I don’t care.” 

He knows he’s on her good side and she’s feeling good about her performance too because she’s smiling up at him as she adjusts her position on the pillows.

“Yeah, well _I_ do.” she tilts her head to the side, a playful look coming onto her features, “I want to watch my movie.” 

“And I want to do other things,” he whispers in her ear and pulls her in closer.

When it’s just them like this, far away from the public, their kids, and the cameras he likes it.

He likes it a lot.

He gets to see her in a way that not many people get to see her in and it’s a positive of them being together.

To the public, Amy seems like a cold and frigid bitch with the personality of a piece of paper but it’s simply not the truth.

For one, she’s funnier than people give her credit for. He always knew that she had her moments but sometimes she’ll say some shit in private that’s just so fucking hilarious he’ll be left in shock that it’s really her.

It does frustrate him that she’ll never admit that he makes her laugh though.

 _“Shhh.”_ Amy pushes him off of her gently, “She’s about to talk about why she framed her husband.” 

He looks to the television in confusion, his eyebrows furrowing low on his forehead as he watches a blonde woman drive in the car.

He frowns after they’ve been sitting in silence for almost twenty minutes now, the movie continuing and on as he scrolls on his phone and Amy leans forward in interest as she watches the tv.

“Why is this movie just Ben Affleck sitting at bars sad?” he can’t help himself.

“Because his wife accused him of murder, Dan.” she rolls her eyes like it’s so fucking obvious, “Pay attention.” 

This is how Amy gets whenever one of her movies comes on and she gets extremely invested.

He can’t even keep track of the number of times Amy has brushed his sexual advances off to watch some stupid movie while he sits there like an idiot with his dick in his hands.

“You have to promise me you won’t frame me for murder.” he taps her on her shoulder, “Even though I’m charming and the judge will like me, I would be very pissed at you if you ever did that.” 

“Oh please.” she scoffs at him, “You’d have a fucking anxiety attack if you ever had to step foot into a courtroom again.” 

He rolls his eyes and rolls over to retrieve his phone because it’s partly true but also it’s so evident that she has such little faith in him.

“Cletus said you did amazing tonight.” he shows Amy the text the CEO of HBO sent him a few minutes ago, “I think you need to come on the show more often.” 

“Why? Are your ratings low?” she teases him as she pulls the heavy pearl white weighted blanket over her body.

“You’re so funny,” he mumbles through gritted teeth as he floats a generic response back to Cletus, thanking him for his kind words and letting him know that he’ll have Amy on the show fairly soon.

The digital clock on his side of the bed indicates that it’s fifteen minutes after midnight and he feels the exhaustion beginning to take over his body after he drops his phone on his wireless charger.

He’s fucking exhausted.

He’s been filming his show and working all week that at this point, he’s ready to just sleep in well into the afternoon since tomorrow is Saturday.

He’s seriously considering pushing his workout back a few hours.

Rolling over to Amy’s side of the bed, he drapes an arm over her body and presses a soft kiss on her shoulder.

“Turn off the movie, I’m exhausted,” he mumbles into her shoulder, rubbing his free hand on her hip under the covers.

“I’m trying to finish the movie.” she gives him a pointed look, “I don’t complain when you watch your sports highlights at ass o’clock.” 

“You do.” he gives her hip a slight pinch, causing her to yelp slightly, “C’mon, let’s go to sleep.”.

She groans and mumbles something under her breath incoherently as she tries to get up to probably go watch the remainder of the film in her office (he knows this because she’s done it before) but he pulls her back in.

“Sleep.” he stretches over her to grab the remote and shut off the television, tossing the remote across the room so it lands on the daybed couch under the large window, “I don’t want to wake up next to a zombie.” 

He watches as she rolls over and shuts off her lamp, leaving the room dark.

“I hate you,” she grumbles.

 _“Yeah, yeah.”_ he reaches out for the blanket and pulls it towards him a bit.

Since Amy’s so stubborn and always insists she isn’t tired like she’s some toddler, she stays up for a few minutes, laying her head against his chest and he can tell she’s trying so hard to not fall asleep.

Unfortunately for her, her point goes right out the window after she insists to him she’s not exhausted one last and ends up snoring against his chest only a few minutes later.

What can he say? He knows her well.

* * *

**r/2038Olympics. Posted by uGamerOlympian1928**

**Who do you think is going to make the US Olympic Swimming Team?**

Who else is excited for the Olympic Trials for Swimming? Now that Benson Lubarsky hit 1:51:00 in the 200M Butterfly, I think it’s safe to say that he’ll be the leading time going in and the leading time coming out and going to the Olympics. I am interested to see who else will be making it. It seems like this will be a team of youngsters since Benson is only 21 and the top swimmers in this field are either in their early teens or early 20’s. 

  
↑19.4k ↓ ◼︎12.4k Comments

◎ **Best Comments** ▼

**ReignstonBunny88**

I have a feeling that Lubarksy is going to make it in all of his events with smooth sailing, I haven’t seen any performances from anybody that threaten him yet. As for the other spots, I wouldn’t be mad at seeing Ben Egan make it in a few events. His debut performance at last year’s FINA World Championships was truly remarkable and I feel that once he matures a bit and takes things more seriously, he’ll be a true force to be reckoned with.

**AllanahAlipso128**

Ben Egan for sure!! I just read his profile in Sports Illustrated and was surprised to learn more about him. Even though he’s young and already comes from an accomplished family, the young man seems humbled and hardworking and has the talent to back it up. His FINA race proved that he could handle opponents of all sizes and ages and hold his own successfully, I’m rooting for him!

**OverwatchLorde**

LOL at all of the Ben Egan supporters on this thread. Besides his FINA races can you name ANOTHER time when he did something impressive? Besides his decent looks, all he has going for him is his Daddy’s money and hot Mom’s tit to suck off of whenever he loses a race. I pick Lubarsky and Downey any day before Trust Fund Baby Egan. (I’d happily plow his Mom though).

**R3Dmann_42**

I think that Lubarsky and Woolstep have a solid chance at going 1st and 2nd out of the finals and straight to the Olympics, those two compete off of each other well and push each other well enough that they could lead one another to the finish line swiftly. I am interested to see how Egan carries himself during the Trials. This will be the beginning of his potential Professional career and I expect he’ll want the country to see him for his talents and not as Dan Egan’s son.

**TeamUSAForever**

I can’t anticipate the places they’ll come in but here’s who I think will make it: Woolstep, Lubarsky, and Egan. As long as these three people qualify for the Olympics in at least one event, we will have a solid relay to go against the recent champions, the Russians. I am interested to see how Egan handles himself in the 400M freestyle. He’s the youngest in the event by at least a decade and is also the fastest by at least five seconds. If he plays his cards right and performs well enough to get to the finals, he could easily bring home a win and set a new record. Also, I wonder who he’ll sign with! Even though NIKE seems like an obvious choice, I wonder if he’ll decide to go outside of the box and go with Adidas.

* * *

“How was that?” Ben questions loudly after he emerges from the water and places his elbow on the concrete flooring of the gymnasium.

Coach King takes a look at his stopwatch and frowns at Ben, his thick gray eyebrows lowering low on his wrinkled forehead.

“Good enough for the amateur league.” he stands to his feet and walks towards the edge of the pool where Ben is located. 

_“What?”_ he blinks in disbelief, “It felt fast enough. What was the time?” 

“A minute and fifty-six seconds.” he flashes Ben the stopwatch, “Probably because you had to swim around with all of that weight you gained.” 

“I didn’t gain any weight.” he lifts his goggles to pinch the bridge of his nose.

“I beg to fucking differ, kid.” Ellis grumbles and pulls out his green and red clipboard to write a small note to himself, “Lubarsky just hit a minute and fifty-one seconds in case you were interested in making it to the Olympics.”

“I saw it.” he shrugs, kicking his legs underneath the water and enjoying the feeling of the water’s strong force against his limbs.

“Well if you don’t shed some of that weight off of your body and focus then you’ll see it in person too.” Ellis slides his whistle into his mouth and gives it a stern blow, causing Ben to wince, “Finish up this set and get out, I need to review some footage with you in the office.”.

He takes a quick sip from his water bottle and drags his goggles back down, stretching his arms over his head before he goes underwater and prepares to finish his seat.

It’s not that he’s taking what Coach said personally, he agrees with him, if he wants to beat his competition he’s going to have to buckle down and get more serious than he already is. 

But he just feels so awkward talking about weight. It feels like a sensitive issue

He wonders why sports have to operate like this. His diet is filled with grilled chicken, brown rice, mixed vegetables, protein pancakes, and protein shakes and it’s so boring. 

Sure, it’s the best food for him to eat to nourish his body right now during his intense training but he just wants to be normal for a week. Eating the pizza from MOD a few nights ago might’ve slapped a few more pounds on his body but he doesn’t care, it was worth it.

Besides, he got to meet Ekaylah while doing so.

He polishes off his final set and practically scurries out of the pool, longing for his bed at this point. 

It’s already afternoon and at this point, he wants to sleep until the evening comes around, he’s exhausted. 

But, he knows that Coach’s viewing session will push that back a few more hours. 

“You see how you stayed up for too long?” Coach King’s voice jolts him back to reality after what seems like an hour of listening to him lecture, “Had you gone down quicker you would’ve caught up to Mahones earlier.” 

_“Mmm.”_ he blinks, his eyes trying to stay focused on the large projector ahead of him. 

He tries to distract himself by letting his eyes roam around the office but it doesn't offer the excitement. He’s been training with Coach King since he was 12 and the office hasn’t changed whatsoever. 

Even though the building itself had gone through a series of renovations over the years thanks to the parents of the team donating a shit ton of money to do so, the brick office has stayed the same.

The office smells of Cinnamon, Bleach, and Gatorade while the waiting room type furniture that surrounds them is littered with dust particles and small stains. On the pine green walls, there are various photos of the team in earlier years and a few notable Olympians Ellis always rambles about.

When he was younger and one of the only kids working out with the older kids, this building always seemed bigger than it was. It felt like it was a whole other world he could get lost in and escape from the world.

But now, since he’s here all the damn time, it feels like a chore at times. 

“Your problem is that you wait too much.” Coach pinches his fingers at him, “If you spent half as much time doing what you’re thinking about doing, you would be going much faster than you are right now.” he coughs halfway through, leaving his voice hoarse. 

“But if I act on my instincts too much that’ll lead me to a ditch.” he combs a hand through his hair and points up at the paused race on the screen, “Had I made a move there then the race would’ve ended closer than it already was.” 

“You would’ve had a faster time though.'' The wrinkles tighten on Coach's leathery face, “Look, if you’re nervous to challenge someone, that’s fine but being too chicken to face someone isn’t good and that’s another one of your problems.” he points at Ben.

He releases a laugh of disbelief and shakes his head.

“How am I a chicken?” he puts a hand on his chest, “I knew that he was on my tail and had to finish the race strong and hold him off.” 

“You also finished the race slow.” he enunciates the last word.

 _“Slow?”_ he enunciates with a chortle, “I won the race and got a qualifying time. What are you talking about?”

“Just because you win a few races doesn’t mean it’s your best race.” Coach grabs a marker and begins to write on the whiteboard on the left side of the wall, “Right now you’re training to just win, I need you to train to win but to also be the best.”

His stomach pangs in hunger and he sighs gently, cautious of doing it too loud (He doesn’t need King scolding him for having an attitude over a misunderstood sigh).

He frowns in confusion when his eyes finally adjust to the scribbling on the board.

“What does that even say?” he leans forward to decipher the red ink on the cloudy whiteboard; he has a feeling he’ll need glasses, his vision is getting worse and worse by the day.

He watches as King points at the scribbled ink with the marker cap.

“These are the times I want you to hit in all of your events.” His voice is rough and filled with exhaustion, “You’re going to the trials for five events. If you listen to what I tell you and get some pep in your fucking step, you’ll hit these times in no time and make the team.”

 _“Pep in my step?_ ” a grin breaks out into his face.

“Don’t be a comedian,” he grumbles in response.

“Yes, sir.” he nods as he hugs himself and leans back in his seat, feeling a slight headache start on the left side of his brain.

God, he needs something to eat.

* * *

“I just don’t understand why we have to wear those white dresses at Graduation. We’re gonna look like a cult.” Amelia shakes her head as she steals a strawberry from the center plate with her silver spoon.

“Mom says Daddy’s fans are a cult.” Danielle chuckles to herself as she slides a sliced mango off the center plate.

“Don’t repeat that in public.” Amy keeps her voice low as she takes a sip of her tea, “And the white dresses are supposed to represent the history of the school.”.

“Well, we’re gonna look like a cult,” Amelia repeats herself as the sunlight bounces off of her chestnut waves.

“Stop saying that.” Amy warns gently as she gives one more look at the paper-thin menu, “Do you guys know what you want to eat, yet?”.

Danielle nods enthusiastically as she places her teacup down, “I want the Chocolate Croissant with Nutella and Honey.” she points out on the menu to Amy.

She nods and notices the french version of the word, pointing it out for Danielle.

“Can you say it in French?” she turns to her.

 _“Croissant au Chocolat”_ she answers with a slight accent after thinking it over for a second.

“Good girl.” Amy taps her hand and reaches out for another strawberry with her fork, “Your accent is getting better.” 

“Thank you.” she dimples over at Amy sweetly.

“You know Ben is failing French, right?” Amelia speaks over her small tea mug.

She opens her mouth to speak but is cut off by the sound of her phone silently buzzing on the table.

“That’s not true. Leave your brother alone.” she grabs her phone as squints as she tries to read the message on the phone.

Either the font on her phone was getting smaller or her eyes were getting weaker.

“My friend is a TA for his French teacher.” she stares at Amy like it’s obvious, “The only reason why he has an A+ is that he might go to the Olympics and everyone at our school loves him.”

“Sounds like you're jealous.” Danielle smirks as she plays with the straw in her Shirley Temple, _“I would be.”_

Needing her glasses, Amy pulls her purse from the back of her chair to rummage through it.

“I’m not jealous of him.” Amelia’s tone is dismissive and filled with venom, “It’s just annoying that he’s given everything.” 

“He’s not handed everything.” Amy speaks up after she’s found her glasses sequestered in the right pocket of the purse, “He works hard for his stuff too.”.

 _“It sounds like you are….”_ Danielle teases in a sing-song voice, causing a slight giggle to escape her throat. 

“Well, I’m not.” Amelia insists then turns to Amy for backup, “Now are you gonna say something to Dad about this?” 

_“Amelia.”_ Amy slides on her glasses and gives her eldest daughter a knowing look, “Your brother is not failing French. Your friend is probably saying that to start shit, you can’t listen to what everyone says.”

She has about seven missed calls and ten missed texts from Joan and she sighs, pushing a hand through her hair and she quickly slides her chair away from the table.

“It’s work. I have to take this.” she informs the girls over the Brunch chatter from the tables surrounding them, “I’ll be right back.” 

Luckily the heat hasn’t taken over yet so the air feels nice on her exposed arms the minute she exits the restaurant.

From Joan’s frantic retelling of events, she’s found out that Naomi cannot take Candi's idiocy as a Chief of Staff and wants to replace her ASAP.

This doesn't surprise her.

“I mean Candi’s a pretty shitty Chief of Staff and Naomi is only a Congresswoman. She can only go up from here if she gets a new one.” 

“Michelle just told me that Congresswoman Grey is interested in getting a new COS but isn’t sure of who it can be considering we’re in an election season and she doesn’t know who it can be.” 

She knew this would happen eventually.

Don’t get her wrong, Candi seems like a decent person (albeit annoying) but maybe politics just isn’t her thing. 

But from their first meeting with both Candi and Naomi, it was painfully clear that Candi just wasn’t ready to be the Chief of Staff to anybody.

She sees her stupid baking tutorials with her kids on her Instagram timeline 24/7 though (even though she has her blocked), maybe she could pick up on that instead of forcing a political career.

“Is anybody available right now to take her on?” she waves at the Quinn couple who walk past her and towards the Bakery a few doors down. (they work at CNN and always manage to be decent towards her and Dan whenever they see them).

She hears a few papers shuffle around in the background.

“Michelle said she can step in if needed but I can also phone Lundy. He’s in Minnesota right now though.” 

Michelle is always a safe bet but she suspects Lundy might need somebody to put on his resume after Amy trained him and mentored him for almost two years.

“Call Lundy. Tell him to get ass to get on the first flight to DC.” she feels her stomach pang in hunger, “I have to go. The girls are waiting for me and I’m starving.".

Her head is down as the doorman lets her back into the restaurant and she heads up the stairs, her fingers flying across her keyboard furiously as she texts Michelle the new plan.

 _“Amy?”_ she hears a British accent call out for her.

She looks up from her phone with a sight frown but it melts away into a slight jaw-drop the minute she sees who it is.

“Darren?” she blinks at him in confusion as her body tenses up and looks around the restaurant to make sure nobody is paying too much attention to them, “What are you doing here?”. 

Darren chuckles as he pulls away from the counter he stands at and holds up a finger to someone she assumes to be a Chef who gets the hint and walks away.

“My friend is the Head Chef here.” his accent is much thicker than what she remembers, “She said she needed help around the place and I was in town so I decided to pop in and help.” 

Jesus, this isn’t how she wanted to see him after everything that happened between them. She doesn’t look terrible by any means, she’s dressed in a pair of black slacks with a white tank top under a black blazer and her hair is in a low ponytail since it’s much longer now.

“I didn’t know that.” she offers, folding her arms over her chest self-consciously, “Sounds... _cool.”_

He’s much more handsome than the last time she saw him. He’s grown into his looks though, he looks more like a grown man now than he did when they first met and it baffles her how much facial hair matures a person.

Even though he’s older now, Dan always manages to look a year or two younger without his beard (she’ll never tell him this though).

“So how have you been?” he offers for small talk, “You look great by the way.” 

_“Thank you.”_ she looks down at her outfit and rolls her shoulders back, “And I’ve been fine. I’m just here getting Brunch with my daughters.” 

“That’s amazing.” he gives an encouraging nod and cranes his neck to look at the chefs who all work maliciously on their respective food orders, “Unfortunately, I have to get back to work but it was so nice seeing you.” 

“Thanks.” she offers a small genuine smile, “It was nice seeing you too.”.

She makes her way back to the table where she finds the girls quietly arguing about something Amy has no interest in finding out about but they luckily stop the minute she gets settled into her seat.

Internally, she’s content with the fact that she and Darren didn’t have one of those highly publicized breakups where everything was out in the open and a complete mess.

But, a small _(extremely small)_ part of her wonders what would’ve happened if they stuck it out for the long haul.

She wouldn’t be with Dan for one but she mainly wouldn’t have Danielle and something about not having either one of those things just seems so odd and unusual for her.

So maybe it’s a good thing they didn’t end up together.

* * *

_ Click here to watch Amy Brookheimer absolutely destroy Carlisle Fitzpatrick on 'Late Night with Dan Egan' _

Buzzfeed

_Despite lack of evidence, President Nichols and his administration doubled down on claims that leaked audio was 'altered' by the media in his latest statement._

The Atlantic

_Why the Nichols administration told their staffers to 'not apologize' when asked about those tapes._

The Guardian

_"As someone who knows the President quite well, I know for a fact that these words on the tape were not his words' Republican Senator, Jim Blanco, defended the President in a tweet early Sunday morning._

FOX News

_Political Strategist Michelle York labels President Nichols as a 'High School Bully' during her appearance on 'The CNN Morning Show with Natasha Pfeiffer'_

CNN

_ In Conversation: 'Late Night with Dan Egan' writing staff on how they keep the show fresh and factually correct after 13 years. _

Variety

_ Dear Dan Egan, Stop making your wife do all of the work on your show. It's getting exhausting [Guest Column] _

RedState

_ Exclusive: Dan Egan is being eyed to moderate a Presidental Debate this year.  _

U.S Uncut

_Brookheimer heading for ‘Real Housewives’ Franchise?_

D.C Gossip Girl

‘Real Housewives of DC’ fans, brace yourselves! A new Queen of the Hill may be entering the field soon and we have all of the details on this exclusive news.

An executive producer of the show revealed that the network and producers have been eyeing political strategist, Amy Brookheimer, to join the franchise and walk into an impressive payday with a signing bonus of up to almost 2 million

 _“Amy has it all.”_ an executive producer told us during our interview, _“She has the big house, desirable job, hot husband, beautiful kids, and that firecracker personality that would make her a force to be reckoned with on the show.”_

This would be a big step for Amy and we wouldn’t be too mad to see it. Over the years, we’ve admired her career and her beautiful family thanks to the small snippets she’s shared in interviews and on her Instagram over the years.

And we’re positive she’d bring the drama, with her fallout with former boss and former POTUS Selina Meyer, her stacked clientele roster at the strategy consulting firm she co-owns with Michelle York, the jealous dance and swim moms that train alongside her children to the potential drama with husband, Dan Egan, whom she allegedly split with after the birth of their second child. 

_“Even though she [Amy] keeps a relatively low profile, she has a reputation around town that many women wish to get to in their careers.”_ A representative from Bravo tells us, _“Everyone around DC knows her [Amy] as one of the most desired and respected women of DC, it’s only right we go after her.”_

And the most desirable part about Amy? Her relationship with her husband, Dan Egan, of course!

But could there be trouble in paradise for the two?

 _“Even though we all know that Dan and Amy have a stable and loving marriage, they aren’t strangers to conflict.”_ Several sources who are familiar with the couple have claimed that Amy isn’t a big fan of Dan’s colleague, Sarah Houston, whose show coincidentally airs before Dan’s show.

_“Amy knows what it’s like when Dan’s eyes wander for too long and she’s very cautious of that. Don’t let the pastel outfits and confidence fool you, she can get very jealous and isn’t afraid to mark her territory with Dan.”_

While Dan has since laughed off the rumors on his most recent Podcast interview, we can only hold out for hope that Amy considers this offer seriously.

* * *

“Listen, Lundy.” Amy holds her phone up by her shoulder as she views the high heel display in Ann Taylor a few hours after brunch, “Candi is just not doing the job for Naomi anymore and I don’t blame her. It’s an election year and frankly, she’s dragging her down.” 

Luckily Joan forwarded the message of Naomi looking to fire Candi to Bryant Lundy and he seems interested enough in going forward with the deal.

“Besides, Naomi needs a new look. She’s a worthy candidate with a firecracker personality, her being with someone as cookie-cutter sweet as Candi isn’t doing the trick.” Michelle speaks on the other line as Amy holds up a pair of Black slingback pumps and tilts her head to the side. 

They’re pretty cute. She figures they just might be cute enough to buy while she gets Amelia’s graduation shoes. 

_“Mom!”_ Amelia whispers hisses, fully aware that they’re in public and that she’s on the phone, she holds up her right leg to show off the White Suede pumps her foot is strapped in and points a finger at them; waiting for her opinion.

She gives the shoes a good look and frowns when she notices the gold accents that line the top of the shoe. 

“They’re supposed to be free of accents.” she quickly mutes herself and points at the shoe, “This has gold accents.” 

Amelia looks at the shoes and frowns. 

“But they’re cute.” she looks at Amy like it’s evident as she jiggles her foot in the air, her anklet making a slight noise in the air.

And this is exactly why she isn’t a fan of shopping with Amelia. 

Much like Dan, Amelia gets extremely excited about materialistic items and pulls out all of the stops she can to help her secure whatever she wants because she just _has_ to be dressed to the nines every single day.

Don’t get her wrong, she enjoys shopping now and then, but if it’s with either Dan or Amelia, she’ll gracefully bow out and let the two fashionistas go on their own shopping trip together.

 _“Danielle._ ” she hisses once she notices her other child, posing in front of a large mirror with a pair of gold sunglasses that are too expensive for a 12-year-old to have in their possession, “Take off the glasses.”.

Danielle turns around and steps back from the mirror, sliding the glasses up so they rest on her forehead.

“Can I get them?” she holds up the gold frames with a bright smile.

“Put them back.” Amy pulls her phone away from her ear even though she’s on mute, “You’re not getting them.”

Even though it’s Sunday, she has to run a few more errands with the girls before they head back home, and getting Amelia’s graduation shoes was at the top of the list. She still had to go by the dry cleaners and pick up Dan's stuff and get some groceries since this upcoming week looks like it’ll be the busiest for them. 

“What if I pay for them?” Danielle insists, “They’re only 48 dollars.”

Holding up a finger to her, she turns around and unmutes herself back into the call, picking up where Michelle leaves off.

“I think we’re all in agreement that this is what’s best for Naomi.” she walks over to Danielle and escorts her to the seat next to Amelia, turning back towards the shoe display she noticed earlier, “The only way for her to go from here is up and she’ll never get there with Candi.” 

“How soon would you need me to come out?” Lundy’s voice seems unsure, she can tell that he feels odd about taking the job from somebody so soon but Amy knows it’s the lack of experience talking. She figures that once he gets more comfortable in this industry and with his talents, she knows he’ll eventually look forward to taking jobs from people who aren’t so great at them shortly.

Over her shoulder, she notices Amelia beginning to type and scroll on her phone, adjusting herself into a leisure position in the chair as Danielle begins to inspect the frame of the glasses closely.

 _“Amelia._ ” she mutes herself again, “I am not trying to be here all day. Can you please pick a pair of shoes so we can go already?” she’s practically snapping her fingers at this point, her impatience going thin by the minute. 

Much to Amelia’s dismay, she drops her phone on the side table and continues to go through the boxes of shoes next to her.

Continuing to listen in on the call, she turns back around to the shoe display she was eyeing earlier and weighs her options of getting the slingback pumps she was eyeing earlier. The shoes are cute enough to wear to work on a cocktail day but formal enough to wear to one of the many parties Dan insists on throwing or taking her to unexpectedly.

 _“You should get them.”_ a soft voice interrupts her thoughts, You’d look great in them.”

She looks up to offer a nod of thanks to the soft-spoken individual but she feels the wind knocked out of her when she’s met with Candi.

She hangs up the call immediately. 

_“Candi.”_ she can’t even try to hide the shock in her voice, “ _I.._.I didn’t know you were on this side of town.” 

“Of course.” she waves a hand in the air, “I had to come by and pick up some shirts for this week. Can you believe Baggage Claim still hasn’t found my luggage? It’s almost been a week and you would think with all of the technology they have they would’ve found it by now.” 

“You would think that.” she grits out as she declines an incoming call from Michelle, “..with the technology and stuff.”

She doesn’t have many feelings about Candi even though Dan and everyone else claim otherwise. She thinks that she’s a decent person with a butchered name if that means anything. 

_“Caleb?_ Do you remember Mrs. Egan and her girls, Amelia and Danielle?” Candi steps to the side to reveal her son who is Danielle’s age and beckons a hand towards them.

Ignoring the ‘Mrs. Egan’ quip (she hates it when people introduce her like that, it feels so demeaning), she turns to see how the girls react, praying that they’re on their best behavior.

“Hello, Caleb.” she offers a small wave, unsure of how to greet the kid.

 _“Hi.”_ Amelia looks up from her shoes and offers a slight smile and small wave.

“Hi.” Danielle gives an unimpressed glare as she looks up from her phone and back down to the glasses.

“I have to say you girls are gorgeous. You take after your Mom beautifully.” Candi bows her head down to the girls, giving a warm smile, “I’m sure you get that all the time though.” she turns to Amy.

“You can say that.” she offers a chuckle through gritted teeth, fighting to not roll her eyes immediately.

This is where she wishes Dan was here; he’s so much better at communicating with these people who fawn over their children in hopes of getting in their good graces or getting something from them.

She doesn’t entertain that bullshit but Dan at least tries to seem interested.

“So Danielle.” Candi turns to face Danielle, “How do you like Sidwell? Caleb and his twin sister, Colleen are going to be attending there for the 7th grade and he wants to pick up on swimming. He looks up to Ben.”

Yeah, Dan would’ve been much better to handle this one.

From the look on her soft features, it's clear that even Danielle isn't feeling the Carussos. 

“It’s fine, I guess.” she shrugs, completely uninterested, and runs a hand through her hair.

“Will Ben be teaching at Sidwell next year?” Candi’s kid finally speaks up and turns to Amy, clearly not able to hold back his excitement, “I know he coaches at the Y.” 

_“Helps.”_ Amy corrects with a slight smile, “He just helps out with the younger kids. That’s all.” 

“Oh.” This must be exactly what Candi wanted to hear, “Well like Caleb said, he’s a really big fan of Ben.” she enunciates as Caleb walks over to where Danielle is sitting.

“You have pretty hair.” His voice is monotone, “I like your outfit too.”

Danielle looks around in confusion and glares at Caleb up and down, her shoulders slumped in boredom.

 _“Uhhh thanks?”_ She’s taken aback by the compliment.

“Aren’t they just so cute?” Candi obnoxiously nudges her.

God, she wants to puke. She hates this flowery bullshit this kid is trying to subject her daughter to.

“How old are you?” Caleb stutters, “I am 12 and will be entering the 7th grade this fall.”

Both Amelia and Danielle exchange a slight frown.

“Your Mom said that already.” Danielle drums her fingers on the armchair, directing her attention back to her glasses, “And I’m 12.”

“May I have your phone number?” the kid tries, “Maybe you could give me some tips before school starts and we can hang out over the summer, my sister and I have a treehouse.”

“ _I don’t have a phone,_ ” Danielle responds immediately. 

Jesus, this is her kid. 

At least she knows that Danielle took her advice seriously: If she ever feels uncomfortable in any situation with a stranger, it’s okay to lie.

The attitude alone is enough to make Amelia snicker in delight and force Amy to hold back her laughter silently as Candi clenches her heart, turning to Amy and expecting her to react similarly.

She doesn’t know what’s more awkward; the fact that Amy was actively planning to help fire Candi from her position not only a few minutes ago or that her kid is getting hit on by another kid and that Candi thinks it’s cute.

Picking up on the awkwardness, Amelia holds up a box of shoes and mouths the words, _‘Are you ready?’_

Thank god she has smart kids. 

“Candi, it was...nice seeing you and... _Caleb.”_ she claps her hands together, “But we, unfortunately, have to go, we have a day full of errands and we’ve only just started. Girls? Let’s go to the register.”

It doesn’t take much hassle for both of the girls to collect their items and follow Amy to the register, quickly letting the cashier ring them up and they get the hell out of there the fastest their feet can carry them.

“That family is weird.” Danielle sighs after they’ve finally made it back to their car and they’re all strapped into their seats.

“Yeah, preach to the choir, kid.” Amy releases a breath she didn’t know she was holding in as she turns her engine on.

* * *

“Amy, _do_ you want to go?” Dan’s pretty much lost his patience with this topic at this point, “Because if you want to then go.”

“Of course I want to go.” she throws her hands in the air, “This is a big deal for him and I don’t want him to feel like some fucking stepchild because I couldn’t go to this one thing for him.” 

At this point, they’ve been going back and forth about this damn Olympic-Graduation fiasco for a good hour now and he feels like he’s beating a dead horse at this point. 

“Perfect.” he claps his hands, beginning to move from the couch to stand to his feet, “I’ll have Trina book your ticket and hotel.” 

“Are you crazy?” Amy leans forward, “I can’t go that easily. What if Amelia needs me?” 

“Then she’ll act like the adult she already acts like she is and handle it herself?” he suggests like it’s obvious, “Jesus Christ, she's having a Graduation party, not preparing for a goddamn debate.” 

She cocks her head to the side and gives him a knowing glare, indicating that she’s very serious about this topic and doesn’t approve of his constant joking about it.

And it’s fucking insane how she can push all of that into one look.

“It’s not that easy for me to not care, Dan.” she insists, “I’m not you. I have feelings about things and I don’t come across as a total robot.”

At this point, he’s a minute away from just sending her on a private jet to wherever the fuck she wants to go, all of this uncertainty is driving him crazy when it shouldn’t be this complicated.

“Look. Amelia’s stuff is staying the same.” he holds a hand up, “And Ben can either go to the trials with his team or you can go. It's that simple.” 

Amy’s champagne-colored hair whips around her like a lasso as she turns to give him a look of disgust.

“Do you not want to support your son on one of the biggest days of his life?” She stares at him in disbelief, her almond-shaped eyes narrowing in on him.

“He told me he didn’t want me there.” he shrugs nonchalantly. 

Earlier when Dan had picked Ben up from practice, he had asked him point-blank if he wanted him to go with him to the trials and he said no. Sure, it might’ve stung at the moment but he’s over it now. 

If the kid doesn’t want him to go, he’ll happily not go.

“When did he say that?” Amy leans forward, the overhead lighting from the chandelier giving her hair an extra layer of shine.

“In the car when I picked him up today.” he bends down and retrieves his sneakers from his job this morning, walking them to their rightful position in the closet, “He said he doesn’t want too much attention on him because of me being there.” 

It’s quiet for a few seconds which causes him to silently cheer inside, maybe since they’ve gotten over that hurdle he figures he could get some sex out of her tonight.

But she’s already leaning against the door, arms folded over her chest and a slight frown on her face.

 _“Bullshit.”_ she taps her feet against the floor, “What did you say to him, Dan? I told you I don’t want you interviewing him for your-”

“He just said he didn’t want me there.” he blows the air out of his cheeks, “I don’t know why this is so hard for you to believe.”

“Did you even tell him what I told you to?” Amy raises her chin at him.

And this is where he freezes for a moment. 

It’s not like he remembers what Amy told him a few days ago, he can barely remember what she said to him last night because there’s so much shit that happens between them and in their world. One minute it could be about politics and the next it could be about one of the kids.

Plus they’re unfortunately getting older. If whatever he was supposed to do didn’t have any real sense of urgency then he automatically put it on the back burner.

His silence must answer Amy’s question because she hangs her head and shakes it gently.

“All I asked for you to do was to tell Ben you’re proud of him.” he can tell from her tone she’s disappointed in him, “I didn’t ask you to get the moon out of the fucking sky.”

Well, more so disappointed yet not surprised. 

“I forgot, okay?” he waves a hand in the air, “It’s not that big of a deal.”

And when that fake yet menacing chuckle slips out of Amy, he knows he fucked up.

“You know just because your parents didn’t tell you they were proud of you doesn’t mean you have to do the same thing to him.” she leans forward and points a thumb behind her shoulder, her eyes narrowing at him.

He can’t help but laugh at that.

“And what the fuck does that have to do with anything?” he’s taken aback by her words, sure she isn’t exactly lying, but why is she doing this now? 

“Why can’t you put all of your childhood trauma to the side and just be nice to him for once?” she throws her hands in the air, “I mean damn, how hard is it to tell your kid you’re proud of them?” 

He’s too tired for this.

He has an early start tomorrow (well, technically today, it’s fifteen minutes past midnight) and he isn’t interested in doing this soul search session right now, or maybe ever.

 _“Fine.”_ he all but gives up on trying to avoid this, “I’ll tell him tomorrow.” 

“Just forget it.” she turns her body away and approaches her side of the bed, all but yanking the covers forward as she mumbles something he can’t register under her breath.

“Oh, so you’re just going to sleep after all of that?” His hands land on his hips as he approaches the bed in disbelief, “All of that bitching and complaining just to go to sleep?”

“I told you to forget it and I’m exhausted.” she rolls her body so she’s facing the wall.

Part of him wants to be surprised by this but he’s genuinely not.

Out of all of the kids, Amy loves Ben the most (she’ll never admit to it) and she’s so emotionally invested in the kid getting everything he wants whenever he wants that she always gets pissed when Dan doesn’t follow through with her vision.

Don’t get him wrong, he loves Ben too but he doesn’t want to baby the kid his entire life.

Especially when he could be a fucking Olympic champion, he would quite literally get eaten alive.

But if she wants to be a Petty Polly and go to sleep with murder on her mind, he’ll happily let her do it and catch up on some sleep on his own.

He can tell that’s she disappointed he slides into his respective side of the bed by a deep sigh she lets out but he doesn’t care.

He’s the one that fucking picked out their bed and if he wants to sleep in it he’ll do just that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Make sure to leave a comment and or kudos!
> 
> It's both heavily encouraged and greatly appreciated!


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